Categories and brands
Importing a feed makes the whole catalog available. These two pages let you narrow what the bot offers.
Categories
Ecommerce → Categories shows the category tree built from your feed, with a product count per branch.
Categories come from g:product_type in a Google Shopping feed, or product_category in a CSV. Items without that field produce no category.
Selecting categories
Tick the categories the bot may suggest from. Untick the ones that should stay out of chat — clearance, trade-only ranges, spare parts, gift cards.
- Expand All / Collapse All navigate a deep tree
- Select All / Deselect All work on the visible branch
- Selections are saved per chatbot and per language, so switch language and check both
- Clear Saved resets your selection
Selecting a parent selects its children. If a branch shows a product count of zero, its products are missing a category in the feed rather than being hidden by your selection.
Follow-up questions
Each category has a followup question toggle.
Turn it on for a category where one more question meaningfully narrows the choice — Plants is hard to answer without knowing the light, Pots without a size. Instead of listing everything, the bot asks first.
Enabling follow-up on a category selects that category and unticks all of its children, because the follow-up question replaces browsing deeper. Turning it off ticks them again. Use it on the level where the choice is actually made, not at the top of the tree.
Keep it to a handful of categories. Every follow-up adds a step before a visitor sees a product.
Brands
Brands are only relevant when Ecommerce → AI configuration → Brand awareness is on. Turning it on adds a Brands page to the Ecommerce menu.
Brands come from g:brand or the brand column in your feed.
Choosing which brands stay available
Ecommerce → Brands lists every brand found in your catalog. Untick a brand to keep it out of suggestions.
Reasons to untick:
- The brand is being discontinued
- A supplier does not permit online advice
- Its data is poor and drags results down
- It is a house brand you only sell in-store
Use Select all and Deselect all to work through a long list quickly. Save when you are done.
Unticking a brand does not delete products. Re-tick it and they return.
Brand names in the feed
Brand matching depends on the data. The same brand written several ways — GreenCo, Green Co., GREENCO — appears as separate entries. Fix them in your feed and import again.
Checking your work
- Ask on the Demo page for something in an unticked category — it should not be suggested
- Ask for a brand you unticked — the bot should offer alternatives, not that brand
- Ask a question in a category with a follow-up — the bot should ask before listing
The Catalog Coverage figure on the Dashboard is not a useful check here: it is calculated all-time and across every chatbot on the account, so it will not respond to a change you just made. Test on the Demo page instead.
Related
Related articles
Connect a product feed
Import your catalog from a Google Shopping feed or a CSV URL.
Product feed field reference
Exact column and element names Mikabot reads from CSV and Google Shopping feeds.
Product recommendation settings
Choose a search strategy and tune how the AI finds and presents your products.
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