> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.uselayers.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Exclude products from recommendations

> Keep products such as shipping protection, gift cards, or samples out of recommendation blocks without unpublishing them in Shopify.

You may want some products to stay for sale without Layers ever recommending them, such as shipping protection, gift cards, or free samples. Use a hidden content rule to keep them out of every recommendation block.

## Hide products from all blocks

1. Go to **Hidden Products** and create a new rule.
2. Set the resource type to **Product** and the surface to **Recommendation blocks**.
3. Add conditions that match the products, for example product type equals `Shipping Protection`, or tags contains `no-recommend`.
4. Publish the rule.

Matching products stop appearing in recommendation blocks once Layers finishes applying the rule. They stay visible in search and collections. To hide them there too, create a rule for each of those surfaces. See [Hidden content rules](https://docs.uselayers.com/platform/hidden-products.md).

> [!TIP]
>
> A dedicated tag, such as `no-recommend`, makes it easy to add or remove products later from Shopify without editing the rule.

## Hide products from one block

To exclude products from a single block only, add a block rule with the **Apply Filter** action that filters out the matching products. See [Block rules](https://docs.uselayers.com/platform/blocks/rules-and-safeguards.md#block-rules).

## Choose which products a block shows

To control exactly which products a block recommends, such as a curated cart upsell, use the **Manual** strategy and pick the products. Add a fallback block, such as best sellers, for when the picked products are unavailable. See [Manual strategy](https://docs.uselayers.com/platform/blocks/strategies.md#manual-strategy) and [Fallback chains](https://docs.uselayers.com/platform/blocks/fallback-chains.md).

## Next steps

* [Recommendations look thin, off-category, or missing](https://docs.uselayers.com/help/troubleshooting/recommendations-thin-or-off-category.md)