---
title: "Relate Options: How Related Categories Are Chosen"
description: "How WooCommerce related categories are chosen automatically: the four relate rules and tuning tips."
url: "https://wpfactory.com/docs/woocommerce-related-categories-relate-options/"
updated: "2026-09-27"
category: How to
---

# Relate Options: How Related Categories Are Chosen

The Relate Options decide which categories count as "related" to the current product or category in [Related Categories for WooCommerce](https://wpfactory.com/item/related-categories-for-woocommerce/). They relate categories automatically from your category tree, and they are free. You can turn on one rule or combine several.

Go to **WPFactory > Related Categories** (also reachable at **WooCommerce > Settings > Related Categories**). The Relate Options sit on both the **Single** and **Archives** sub-tabs, so you can set them separately for product pages and for shop or category pages.

![Relate Options for Related Categories for WooCommerce: Siblings, Parents and Children](https://wpfactory.com/wp-content/uploads/Relate-Options.png)

### The four rules

- **Siblings**: categories that share the same parent as the product's category. Enabled by default.
- **Parents**: the parent category of the product's category. Enabled by default.
- **Children**: the child categories of the product's category. Enabled by default.
- **Current**: the category or categories the product is directly assigned to. Off by default.

Out of the box, Siblings, Parents and Children are all on, so a product shows its sibling, parent and child categories.

### Include sub-options

Each rule has one or more include options that widen or narrow how far it reaches through the tree:

| Label | Option ID (array key) | Default |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Siblings | `relate_siblings` | Yes |
| Siblings: Include grandparents | `relate_siblings_include_grandparents` | Yes |
| Siblings: Include top-level | `relate_siblings_include_top_level` | No |
| Siblings: Include grandchildren | `relate_siblings_include_grandchildren` | Yes |
| Parents | `relate_parents` | Yes |
| Parents: Include grandparents | `relate_parents_include_grandparents` | Yes |
| Children | `relate_children` | Yes |
| Children: Include grandchildren | `relate_children_include_grandchildren` | Yes |
| Current | `relate_current` | No |

Notes on the include options:

- **Parents: Include grandparents**: with this off, only the single direct parent is shown.
- **Siblings: Include top-level**: includes the top-level (zero) category as a parent when gathering siblings.
- All of the option keys above are stored inside the `alg_wc_related_categories_options_single` and `alg_wc_related_categories_options_loop` option arrays, so the full key for Siblings on single pages is `alg_wc_related_categories_options_single[relate_siblings]`.

### Archives-only sub-option: Always show first

On the **Archives** sub-tab, **Current** gains an extra sub-option, **Always show first** (`relate_current_always_first`, default No), which places the current category in the first position. It works with the Custom template type only.

### Tuning tips

- To show only categories that sit next to the product's category, keep **Siblings** on and turn **Parents** and **Children** off.
- If the section shows more categories than you expect, disable the include options one at a time to narrow the reach.
- If nothing shows for a product in a single top-level category, there are no siblings, parents or children to relate. Enable **Current** to confirm output, then re-tune.

### Relate manually instead

Tip: if you also need to hand-pick related categories rather than derive them from the tree, that is the Pro **Relate Manually** feature, see [manually relating categories](https://wpfactory.com/item/related-categories-for-woocommerce/).

### Get more control

Automatic relating is free. [Related Categories for WooCommerce](https://wpfactory.com/item/related-categories-for-woocommerce/) Pro adds hand-picked related categories per product, category, tag and custom taxonomy. [See what Pro unlocks](https://wpfactory.com/item/related-categories-for-woocommerce/).

Related articles

- [Display Related Categories with the Widget](https://wpfactory.com/docs/woocommerce-related-categories-widget/)
- [Translate Related Categories with WPML and Polylang](https://wpfactory.com/docs/related-categories-multilingual-wpml-polylang/)
- [Archives Options: Related Categories on Shop and Category Pages](https://wpfactory.com/docs/improving-shop-archives/)
- [Single Product Page Options for Related Categories](https://wpfactory.com/docs/single-product-settings/)
- [Related Categories Shortcodes](https://wpfactory.com/docs/woocommerce-related-categories-shortcodes/)