PrestaShop product in multiple categories and the role of the default category
In PrestaShop, a product in multiple categories is perfectly normal: every product has one default category and any number of additional ones. It appears on a category list only where it's assigned directly. That applies to parent categories too. The default category decides the URL, breadcrumbs and related products. Products from subcategories don't move up to the category above on their own.
Author: The TellMyShop team. A guide for PrestaShop store owners: the cause, the manual fix and the same work in a chat conversation.
Last updated: · 5 min read
How does the default category differ from additional categories?
The default category is the product's “home”, and additional ones are other places where you also display it. Both decide where the product shows on lists. Only the default affects the URL and navigation on the product page. You'll find the fields described in the documentation on managing products.
| What | Default category | Additional category |
|---|---|---|
| The product shows on this category's list | yes | yes |
| The category is in the product URL, when the URL pattern includes it | yes | no |
| Breadcrumbs on the product page | lead through it | no |
| “Other products in this category” blocks in many themes | use it | usually not |
| A change affects the URL and redirects | may | no |
A real-life example. The Nora lantern is in the Lanterns, Garden Lighting and Sale categories. The default category is Sale, because someone set it that way during the import. A customer arrives from Google and sees the breadcrumbs “Home > Sale”, and below the product other discounted items instead of lanterns. When the sale ends, the product is left with a URL containing the word “sale”.
Why isn't the product showing in the parent category?
Because a parent category doesn't collect products from its subcategories. A lantern assigned only to Lanterns won't appear in Lighting, even if Lanterns sits under Lighting. This often surprises people after setting up a store. The owner builds the category tree, assigns products to the lowest level and ends up with empty top-level categories.
There are two ways out. The first is to assign the products to the parent category as well. The second is the option to show subcategory products in the faceted navigation module. That option has its own history of bugs, as you can see in an issue on PrestaShop's GitHub. After every change, check the category in a private browser window.
How to add a product to several categories in the admin
On the product page, in the categories section, you tick all the ones you need and pick one as the default.
- Open Catalog > Products and go into the product.
- In the categories section, tick every category the product should appear in, including parent categories.
- Choose the default category. Ideally the most specific topic category, not a seasonal one.
- Save and open the product page. Check the breadcrumbs and the URL.
- If the URL changed, go to the old URL and make sure it redirects to the new one.
- Check the list in each category. If the category uses filters and the product is missing, rebuild the filters module index.
With five products that takes a quarter of an hour. With a hundred imported products with the wrong default category, it turns into a lot of clicking. The structure of the category tree is described in the documentation on categories.
Which category should be the default?
The most specific topic category, where the product will stay for good. The Nora lantern should have Lanterns as its default category, not Garden Lighting or Sale. A few simple rules help you decide quickly:
- The default category describes what the product is, not when you sell it.
- Seasonal, sale and New Arrivals categories always stay additional.
- Choose a category from the lowest sensible level of the tree, because the breadcrumbs will show the whole path above it.
- When a product fits two topic categories, choose the one where customers look for it more often.
These rules will save you URL changes in future. A topic category rarely disappears, while a seasonal one disappears every year. If you set Summer as the default category today, in a few months you'll be changing URLs and keeping an eye on redirects.
Do several categories hurt rankings in Google?
Usually not, because the product has one URL. The lists in all its categories link to that same URL. The problem arises when you change the default category and the category is part of the URL. A new URL is created, and the old one must redirect with a 301. Google describes how it chooses the canonical URL for duplicates.
A wrong default category is the more common problem. The breadcrumbs then lead to Sale, or to a New Arrivals category that will be empty in a month. Customers and Google get a weaker signal about what the product is.
How to fix the default category on many products at once
You describe what should change, and your chat (Claude or ChatGPT) prepares a preview for the whole group. A group can have up to 200 products. The preview shows which product URLs will change and whether the old URLs will redirect with a 301.
You: Find products with Sale as the default category and set their proper category as the default. Keep them in Sale too.
Your chat: 37 products have Sale as the default category. For 35 I can see one topic category. Two are only in Sale, so I'm skipping them and will list them separately.
URL: /sale/412-nora-lantern-30 will change to /lanterns/412-nora-lantern-30, and the old one will redirect with a 301.
You: Approved for the 35.
Your chat: Saved. I checked three old URLs and they redirect to the new ones. You can undo the whole operation from the change history.
Card status: waiting for your “yes”Preview for the first one:
old version: Nora lantern 30 cm: default Sale
new version: Nora lantern 30 cm: default Lanterns, still also in Sale
Saving assignments requires TellMyShop Pro. You'll find ready requests in the use cases fixing the default category and moving products between categories. If you want to move a whole group of products from one category to another, read how to move products to another category. When the product doesn't show at all, start with our post on a product not showing in the store. TellMyShop Pro prices are in the pricing.
Questions and answers
Does a product in several categories create duplicate content in Google?
Usually not. A product in PrestaShop has one URL, built from the default category, however many categories it appears in. Category lists only contain a link to that URL. Duplicates tend to come from duplicated products or filter parameters, not from assigning a product to several categories.
Why doesn't a product from a subcategory show in the parent category?
Because PrestaShop only shows products assigned directly to a category. The Lighting category doesn't inherit products from Lanterns. You can assign the products to the parent category too, or turn on showing subcategory products in the filters module, if your version of the module has that option.
What happens to the product URL after changing the default category?
If the product URL pattern includes the category, the URL changes. That's the case in many stores, because you set the pattern in Shop Parameters > Traffic & SEO. The old URL should then redirect to the new one with a 301. When the category isn't in the URL, changing the default only affects the breadcrumbs and related products on the product page.
How many categories can one product have?
PrestaShop sets no practical limit. A product can be in a topic category, a seasonal one and a sale one at the same time. A sensible limit is as many categories as customers really look for it in. A product in twenty categories makes it harder to keep order, and every change to the list order becomes tedious.
Will the chat check category assignments in the free TellMyShop Free version?
Yes. Reading a product with its default category and all its assignments works in TellMyShop Free, as does diagnosing why a product isn't showing in a category. Changing assignments and the default category for many products at once is in TellMyShop Pro, straight after the licence is activated, with a preview before saving.
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