Today I want to talk about something you’ve almost certainly used plenty of times without knowing its name: faceted navigation. If you’re thinking about improving the search experience on an ecommerce site or a catalogue, this one’s for you. Let’s get into it.
It’s basically a way of helping users find what they’re after quickly and easily. Picture yourself on a clothing store. With faceted navigation you can filter the results by size, colour, price, brand and so on, all in real time, without having to click through a thousand links.
The clever part is that you’re not just sorting results, you can combine them. For example: “show me Nike t-shirts, in black, size XL, between 50 and 100 euros”. There you have exactly what you want without getting lost among a thousand products.
Why you should use it
- Better user experience. If your users find what they’re looking for quickly, they’re more likely to buy. Nobody wants to waste time.
- Better for SEO. Google tends to like organised sites, but watch out for duplicate content (more on that below).
- More conversions. In the end, more precision means more sales.
How to implement it: WordPress and PrestaShop
Now for the good part. Here’s how you’d set this up on the two most used platforms for ecommerce and content.
In WordPress (with WooCommerce)
If you’re using WooCommerce, setting up faceted navigation is dead simple with plugins. Here are the basic steps:
- Install a filtering plugin. The most common is WooCommerce Product Filter. Another very good one is FacetWP (my favourite, though it’s paid).
- Configure your facets. Go into the plugin settings and pick the attributes you want to filter by: size, colour, price and so on. These are the attributes you’ve defined on your WooCommerce products.
- Add the facets to your shop. Most of these plugins work with shortcodes or widgets, so you just drag the filter into the sidebar or wherever you want to show it.
Done. In a few minutes you’ve got faceted navigation running and your users happy.
In PrestaShop
PrestaShop is even easier because faceted search comes built in (they call it the layered navigation block). Here’s how:
- Enable the faceted navigation module. Go to Modules > Modules and Services and look for the module called “Faceted Search” or “Layered navigation”. Enable it if it isn’t already.
- Configure your facets. Inside the module, select the attributes you want users to be able to filter by. That includes categories, price ranges, brands and so on.
- Assign the filters to categories. You can decide which categories the facets appear in. If you have a “Clothing” category, that’s where filters like size and brand make sense.
- Test and adjust. Run a test to make sure the filters work properly. There’s nothing more annoying than filtering something and getting no results.
A quick SEO tip
If you don’t configure the facet URLs properly, you can end up with a duplicate content mess that Google won’t like one bit. For example:
yourshop.com/category/?colour=black
yourshop.com/category/?size=42
To avoid it, use noindex on the facet combinations or set a canonical pointing to the main category page.
So which filters do I let Google index?
This is the question that actually matters, and the one almost nobody answers.
Our criterion, after a fair few shops: index category plus one attribute, as long as that attribute has real search demand. “Women’s running shoes”, yes, because people search for it. “Black t-shirts”, yes, for the same reason.
And there are three things we almost never index:
Price. Nobody searches for “t-shirts between 50 and 100 euros”. It’s a filter you use, not one you search with.
Size. Same thing: size gets chosen on the product page, not searched for on Google. And it multiplies combinations like nothing else.
Three or more filters combined. At that point there’s no demand to speak of: nobody searches for “black Nike t-shirts size XL between 50 and 100 euros”, and every combination like that is one more URL eating your crawl budget.
The quick rule for deciding: open your keyword tool and search the combination exactly as it is. If it has volume, that facet deserves to exist for Google. If it doesn’t, let it work for the user but don’t let it generate an indexable URL.
The important thing is that this gets decided with your shop’s filter list in front of you, not in the abstract. A fashion store and a car parts store have attributes with very different demand.
Wrapping up
Faceted navigation is a must if you want your site to be easy to use and more efficient. With tools like WooCommerce and PrestaShop, setting it up isn’t that complicated, and the benefits for your users and your business are huge.
Frequently asked questions
Which facet URLs are worth leaving indexed?
The ones combining a category with an attribute that has real search demand, along the lines of “women’s running shoes”. As a rule we don’t index price or size, because nobody searches for those on Google, nor combinations of three or more filters, which multiply URLs without capturing any search. Checking it is straightforward: search the combination in your keyword tool and see whether it has volume.
What is faceted navigation on an ecommerce site?
It’s a way of helping users quickly find what they’re after within a catalogue, filtering results by attributes like size, colour, price or brand in real time, without clicking through a thousand links. The clever part isn’t just sorting the results, it’s being able to combine those filters: show me Nike t-shirts, in black, size XL, between 50 and 100 euros.
Does faceted navigation hurt SEO?
Not in itself, because Google tends to like organised sites. The problem shows up when the facet URLs aren’t configured properly: every filter combination generates a new URL along the lines of yourshop.com/category/?colour=black or yourshop.com/category/?size=42, and that’s where you end up with duplicate content. You control it by putting noindex on the facet combinations or setting a canonical pointing to the main category page.
How do you implement faceted navigation in WooCommerce?
With a filtering plugin. The usual ones are WooCommerce Product Filter and FacetWP, which is paid. Then you configure the facets from the plugin settings, choosing the attributes you want to be able to filter by (size, colour, price), which are the ones you’ve defined on your WooCommerce products. Finally you add them to the shop: most of these plugins work with shortcodes or widgets, so you just drag the filter into the sidebar or wherever you want it.
And in PrestaShop?
PrestaShop is even easier because faceted search comes built in, under the name layered navigation block. You go to Modules and Services, look for the Faceted Search or Layered navigation module and enable it if it isn’t already. Then you select the attributes you want users to be able to filter by, including categories, price ranges and brands, and decide which categories the facets appear in. It’s worth testing afterwards: there’s nothing more annoying than filtering something and getting no results.
