Limit Showing Products To Only The Specific Subcategory?

[Planet13]

What's your opinion about listing ALL the products from a category on a main page versus listing them all in subcategory page?

For instance, suppose one of the main pages was "widgets", and there were various subcategories such as "Blue Widgets" "Metal Widgets," "Eco-Friendly Widgets," "Used Widgets,"

Would you display ALL the individual products on the main Widgets category page knowing that they would also be displayed on the individual subcategories page too?

(As a side note, we have traditionally only listed the SUBCATEGORIES on the main widgets page, while listing the PRODUCTS on the specific subcategory pages. So the CATEGORY page would only have links to the subcategories, with no products appearing on the main CATEGORY page.)

I apologize if this question is not clear. It has been a long week.

[Planet13]

Maybe I could better exemplify my problem.

Say an ecommerce site store sells only 20 kinds of widgets, broken into five categories (sports widgets, ballet widgets, hiking widgets, formal widgets, beach widgets).

Currently their are no individual widget products on the main Widget Category pages; just a link to the subcategory pages for Sports Widgets, Ballet Widgets, Hiking Widgets, Formal Widgets, Beach Widgets.

Would it make sense to put all 20 of those individual widget items on the main Widgets Page AND have the products on the appropriate sub-category pages?

Probably the answer would be, "It depends," but how would be the best way to determine whether to do this or not.

Thanks in advance.

[TheMadScientist]

...but how would be the best way to determine whether to do this or not.

That depends too -- lol

I think if I had enough similarity I could put all the widgets on the main widget index page and still have a "closely related widget themed page" I would probably move them there and then turn the "sub-category pages" into "deeper information" about the specific widgets [with only 20 products it seems like it would be easy to really expand out the information about the widgets uniquely].

So, what I'm kind of picturing is something like this:

Main Widget Page contains 20 Product "Summaries" -- Likely with the little stars people have given them and the number of ratings and the "nutshell specs" and the price and of course the "buy now" button and then a "Detailed Information" link at the bottom of each listing to it's detail page, but also with everything else [except the "buy now" button of course] leading to a specific section on the widget's sub-category page, so if someone clicked "reviews" they would end up at the reviews section of the sub-category page, and if they clicked "ratings" that's where they would end up at the ratings section of the sub-category page, and so on.

BTW: Glad you bumped this one. I saw it the other day, was going to answer and then I saw something shiny, got completely distracted and forgot all about it.

[tangor]

In my experience the real difference would be between "new" widgets and "used" widgets. You certainly do not want the used stuff to appear on a new widgets page! A stupid buyer just might buy the "wrong" widget!

I tend to group products by use, ie. Red, Beach, Sports widgets that are clothing apparel, for example. Top product category then can promote the general use and specs of the widget and the subs show the differences....

When in doubt, I remind all my ecommerce clients, take a look at the 1894 Sears and Roebuck Catalog, which, I remind them, had a secondary utility after each year passed as an essential useful tool in outhouses across the country. Moral of the story? Put your stuff in categories than can be easily found, and know that your ads are useful for only a short period of time.

[Planet13]

I tend to group products by use, ie. Red, Beach, Sports widgets that are clothing apparel, for example. Top product category then can promote the general use and specs of the widget and the subs show the differences....

But just to clarify, would you also put the products that are in the Sports Widgets sub-cateogry on the main Widgets category page too?

I don't have a lot of link juice going to my site, but unfortunately my new mobile-friendly structure is sort of "forcing me" to add a couple of higher-level category pages.

While I think they will be helpful to visitors, I just don't know if google is going to tank my site or not by adding them, since they won't be adding a whole lot of unique info to my site.

[tangor]

I'd put all Widgets on the Widgets page. Then allow the user to drill down to see what the difference is.... make sense?

Widgets
Really fine product and all specs here in a rather long description that's about 150-500 words sales pitch including general info and then links to other Options Of This Widget:

Beach

,

Sports

for more info.

Don't forget the pics!

If you are dealing mobile, K.I.S.S!, with a Buy Now on every link.

[Planet13]

Ok, got it. Thanks.