Product tags

Tags are the fastest source to switch on, because a lot of stores already have them. If your products carry tags in the supported grammar, enabling tag parsing turns them into real fitment with no upload and no mapping step.

The grammar#

fits_<years>-<make>-<model>
fits_<years>-<make>-<model>-<submodel>

Examples:

fits_2018-ford-mustang-gt
fits_2010_2015-honda-civic
fits_2015_2026-ford-f-150
fits_2019-jeep-wrangler-rubicon

The grammar is category-neutral — the same tag says a brake kit, a light bar or a set of wheels fits that vehicle.

Prefix

fits_ is required, lowercase. Tags without it are ignored entirely, so your merchandising tags are safe.

Years

one year (2018), or an underscore-separated range meaning inclusive from–to (2010_2015).

Make and model

lowercase, spaces and slashes become hyphens. F-150 becomes f-150.

Submodel

optional. Omit it and the tag applies to every submodel of that year, make and model.

How they're parsed#

On every index run, each product's tags are scanned for the prefix, split, normalized against the synonym rules, and resolved against the vehicle taxonomy. Matches become vehicle IDs on the product's document; unmatched tags are reported in the Sources screen with what they did not resolve to.

That report is the useful part. A tag like fits_2015_2026-chevy-silverado resolves fine because chevy → chevrolet is a default synonym — but fits_2015-ford-f150 will show up as unresolved, because the taxonomy spells it f-150. Fixing that is either a tag edit or a one-line synonym.

Strengths and limits#

Good, because:

• Nothing to upload, nothing to keep in sync — the fitment lives on the product it describes.
• Bulk-editable in Shopify admin, Matrixify, or any tool you already use.
• Survives product duplication.

Limited, because:

• Shopify caps a product at 250 tags. A cabin filter that fits 400 vehicles cannot be expressed this way — use CSV for wide-fitment SKUs.
• Tags are per product, not per variant. If fitment differs between variants of one product, tags cannot express it.
• Large tag sets slow down Shopify admin's own product editor.

Migrating an existing tag scheme#

If you already tag fitment in a different format, do not re-tag your catalog by hand. Send us a sample — most house formats can be read by a small parser we add for your shop, or converted once into a CSV. Ask on the contact form.