Pros and cons of faceted navigation
Posted: Sat Feb 22, 2025 9:30 am
From a search engine optimization perspective, this is a very beneficial system. Faceted navigation generates a unique page for each sorting option. Creating a separate page for each sorting type can cover long tail keywords much better and provide you with more traffic. A unique URL also makes it easier to share product information, for example through social networks or through recommendations among friends.
Despite all the advantages of this navigation method, a unique page for each product variant can also bring some negatives. If you create many similar pages that have different sorting results, or ivory coast phone number data many pages for the same product that differ only in color or size for example, search engines may get the impression that this is duplicate, less valuable content with insufficient benefit for the visitor, and penalize you.
Pros and cons of faceted navigation
Why Google may not like a large number of pages
Imagine that you sell clothes. You have men's and women's clothing on your website, 20 categories from T-shirts to swimwear, in 4 price categories, from 20 manufacturers, in 7 sizes, 20 different colors. Just such criteria will generate 2×20×4×20×7×20, that is 448,000 unique pages, which have almost the same or very similar content. It is logical that search engines in such a case will not attribute much importance to individual pages.
You might be wondering why a search engine would rate similar sites negatively, as this method of generating pages is completely common at alza.cz, for example. Hell, life isn't fair and you're not Alza. In fact, from a certain size and popularity, your authority starts to play a role in how search engines rate you. Sites that have high traffic and authority can have a higher number of pages without risking a penalty.
Despite all the advantages of this navigation method, a unique page for each product variant can also bring some negatives. If you create many similar pages that have different sorting results, or ivory coast phone number data many pages for the same product that differ only in color or size for example, search engines may get the impression that this is duplicate, less valuable content with insufficient benefit for the visitor, and penalize you.
Pros and cons of faceted navigation
Why Google may not like a large number of pages
Imagine that you sell clothes. You have men's and women's clothing on your website, 20 categories from T-shirts to swimwear, in 4 price categories, from 20 manufacturers, in 7 sizes, 20 different colors. Just such criteria will generate 2×20×4×20×7×20, that is 448,000 unique pages, which have almost the same or very similar content. It is logical that search engines in such a case will not attribute much importance to individual pages.
You might be wondering why a search engine would rate similar sites negatively, as this method of generating pages is completely common at alza.cz, for example. Hell, life isn't fair and you're not Alza. In fact, from a certain size and popularity, your authority starts to play a role in how search engines rate you. Sites that have high traffic and authority can have a higher number of pages without risking a penalty.