Q. What is the purpose of ranking under category manager?

Category ranking is a feature when you are using the Power Add-on  (for the self managed WPSLP plugin) or the Professional or higher level  subscription for MYSLP SaaS  with the category manager. The rank is used to sort the categories which will affect the map marker that is used when a location has been assigned more than one category. Following the page ranking paradigm set by WordPress, the rank field is a simple numeric weighting for the categories. This extended data attribute for categories makes it easy to re-arrange the “weight” of categories for map marker selection without mangling category slugs. The lower the number, the higher the precedence for the map marker.

The option to set a category rank can be found under the Store Locator Plus Categories tab.

Tags and/or Categories

With the Power add-on or the SLP SaaS professional level plan or higher, there are options to tag a location or assign a category to a location or do both.

Tagging Locations

“Tagging” locations can be done one of two ways.  The informal method is to use free-form tags that are setup via the Word Press Store Locator Plus Plug-in with the  Power add on. Or the (My)SLP SaaS Professional level plan or higher  The structured method is to use the Store Category Manager under the Categories tab (not available with the basic plug-in or Advance level plan)

Q: Can a store or location have more than one category assigned to it?

Can the stores be categorized by more than one taxonomy? Not multiple tags in a single taxonomy, but multiple tags from multiple taxonomies?

A: Stores only have one categorization class – the store page taxonomy.
However, WordPress Taxonomies are hierarchical. Therefore, you are able to assign all the attributes you need to your locations and use the parents of the branches to drive the user experience. The Power add-on has several UX components such as “drill down” menus that allow users to select a specific category by selecting a parent first then a child.

Store and Category Manager

Store and Category Manager interface is available if you have the  Power  Add-on installed (for WPSLP users) or have the MYSLP Professional level or higher. You will see a tab “Categories” in your Store Locator Plus User Interface.

Under side menu MYSLP/StoreLocatorPlus menu

Once you open the Category Tab  you can begin to add categories and slugs or edit existing.  Set Markers and Icons per category (optional) if you want those to appear in place of map markers.  A Bulk action drop down to delete some or all categories is  at the top of the category box.

Settings/Search

You can choose to show the categories that you have created in a drop down menu as part of the search form.  There are additional category selector options available for WPSLP premier subscribers  or MYSLP Enterprise subscribers (example see Checkbox selector). You can add text as a label that will display  at the top of the categories drop down menu, or you can leave blank.  You can also add text for the category select box that will appear in front of the category drop down on the user interface.

Hide Empty Categories Setting

For WPSLP Power add-on users . Do NOT turn this on unless you have   Pages enabled.

Settings/Results

If you want the category icons to appear in results list check off Category Icons

Categories

The ability to categorize your locations using the WordPress category (taxonomy) system.  The Categories Manager (Formerly known as Tagalong) is part of the Power Add-on   for  WPSLP self managed customers, and available for the MYSLP Professional or higher plans)  It builds on the Store Locator Plus store_page taxonomy that is also used with the Pages portion of the Power Add-on (for WPSLP stand alone).  Build a “simple flat list” of categories or a hierarchical (parent/child) category structure. Once you’ve categorized locations you will find other added benefits on the user interface.