How should I categorize products?

[tom_robinson1]

I have been using Magento 2 for a while and I am familiar with most of features that help me get our desired result to sell products on our website. One thing that is confusing to me is how products should be categorized?

I can see there is more than one method to categorize products:

1. Catalog/Categories - associate products by way of "Products in Category".

2. I can also go into each independent product page and add product categories through the Categories selection method.

Should I use both methods or is one or the other better to use? 

I can see in the exported CSV product file there can be more than one category for a product, separated by commas. This result is usually because I have used method #2 above and selected all category sections along the path to the end category. 

QUESTION:

Should I insert each product on all levels along the drill down all given category paths?

Example:

Products

Widgets

Sub-Widgets

Exported Category data would show as follows:

Default Category/Products/Widgets/Sub-Widgets, Default Category/Products/Widgets, Default Category/Products

Or should I simply add to the end of the path of categories?

[Tarandeep Singh]

@tom_robinson1Hi Tom,

Here are details which can help you. As you can mentioned there are 3 ways to link a product to category/categories.

1. Catalog->Categories - This method is generally used to assign products in bulk to selected category. For example if you want to assign 50 products in Widget category. You can do it from here.

2. Independent Product Page - You can assign category to a product from there page. Common scenario is if you want to assign 1 product to multiple categories, you can do it from here.

3. Product Import - This can help you achieve both #1 and #2 above. You can assign multiple product to multiple categories using product import.

Problem solved? Please give 'Kudos' and accept 'Answer as Solution'.

[tom_robinson1]

Thanks for the input. I am still not clear about whether or not a product should just be assigned to the end category of a path or every step of the way. If I assign a product to a category that is three levels deep to only the end category or all steps?

[Tarandeep Singh · Accepted solution]

@tom_robinson1Better to assign at all steps so that those products are visible on every category you selected. Customer can select step 2 or step 3 category in case looking for more specific product.

Problem solved? Please give 'Kudos' and accept 'Answer as Solution'.