Step 3 — Categorize products

Categorize Products assigns a Google product category to your products for Google Shopping, Meta, TikTok and Criteo channels. Custom Feed channels skip this step. Categories improve matching and let you build ad groups by category.

AI Auto-Categorization

The AI mode groups products by a product type field, then asks the model to pick the best Google category for each group, using extra fields as context.

1. 1

   Select a field containing your product types

   e.g. product_type or category. Products are grouped by this value so each unique type is categorized once. Leave empty to auto-detect.
2. 2

   Select extra fields the AI should use as context

   click fields such as title, description, brand, material. Selecting none is allowed but usually produces worse categories (a warning is shown).
3. 3

   Run AI categorization

   Work runs in the background; the table refreshes automatically. Re-run at any time.
4. 4

   Review and adjust

   The table lists each product type, the number of products, the assigned category and a confidence badge. Rows under 70 % are highlighted in yellow. Click a category to open the searchable Google category picker and override it; overrides are marked Manual and kept on re-runs.
5. 5

   Default category for missing types (optional)

   Used when no category could be determined.

Google taxonomy setup

The first time AI categorization is used in a workspace, the Google Shopping taxonomy must be downloaded and embedded ("Google taxonomy not ready"). Click Seed taxonomy; if the progress bar does not reach 100 % click Continue seeding. This is a one-time setup that takes a few minutes.

Manual Categorization

Add rules of the form IF field operator value → category path:

• Operators: is equal to · includes · starts with · ends with · matches regexp.
• Category path example: Apparel & Accessories > Clothing > Outerwear > Coats & Jackets.
• Default category applies to products that match no rule.

Auto-Categorization respects any manual rules you define.

Output

The chosen category is written to the channel's google_product_category field during generation.

Example result table: