Google Formalises Decade-Old Faceted Navigation Guidelines

Google has officially released documentation regarding the management of faceted navigation, highlighting the SEO risks that come with poorly implemented filtering systems. Websites are now urged to be more cautious about how they handle faceted navigation in order to avoid significant SEO setbacks.

The search giant’s recommendations have been formalised, making it clear that improper implementation of faceted navigation can lead to wasted server resources. Additionally, it can hinder the efficient discovery of new content, which can adversely impact a site’s search engine performance.

Google stresses that websites must make a crucial decision: either block filter URLs completely or optimise them with great care. There is no middle ground, as improper management of faceted navigation can lead to both technical issues and SEO penalties.

Google has recently updated its guidelines on faceted navigation by transforming an older blog post into an official help document. This shift marks the evolution of the company’s approach to managing SEO for websites that rely on complex filtering systems.

What initially began as a blog post back in 2014 has now been formalised into official technical documentation. This update signifies the growing importance of providing clear and comprehensive guidance for website owners.

The change comes in response to the increasing complexity of ecommerce and content-heavy websites. As many sites adopt advanced filtering systems to manage larger product or content catalogs, it’s crucial for webmasters to understand the best practices for faceted navigation to maintain SEO performance.

 

Faceted Navigation Issues

Ever used filters on an e-commerce site to narrow down products by size, colour, and price? That’s faceted navigation – the system that allows users to refine search results using multiple filters simultaneously.

While this feature is essential for improving user experience, it can create significant challenges for search engines. To help address these concerns, Google has released new official documentation on managing faceted navigation systems effectively.

 

Modern Challenges

The challenge with faceted navigation lies in the mathematics of combinations. Each additional filter option multiplies the potential URLs a search engine might need to crawl.

For instance, a simple product page with options for size (5 choices), colour (10 choices), and price range (6 ranges) could generate 300 unique URLs – for just one product.

Google Analyst Gary Illyes has explained that this multiplication effect makes faceted navigation the leading cause of overcrawling issues reported by website owners. The consequences of this can be significant.

For one, websites can waste server resources, as many websites allocate too much computing power to unnecessary URL combinations. This also leads to an inefficient crawl budget, as crawlers may take longer to discover important new content, being bogged down by the myriad of faceted navigation URLs. Lastly, having several URLs for the same content can negatively impact a website’s SEO performance.

 

What’s Changed?

The new guidance is largely based on the 2014 blog post but incorporates several important updates to reflect the evolving nature of websites and search engine optimisation.

Firstly, Google now places a stronger emphasis on performance, warning website owners about the costs associated with using excessive computing resources. This focus highlights the need for efficient navigation systems that do not overwhelm a website’s infrastructure.

The documentation also provides clearer implementation options for different types of websites. It now offers straightforward paths for handling faceted navigation, making it easier for website owners to choose the best approach based on their specific needs.

Lastly, the technical recommendations have been updated to account for modern SEO practices, including those used for single-page applications. These updates ensure that websites employing the latest technologies can implement faceted navigation without negatively impacting their SEO performance.

 

Implementation Guide

For SEO professionals managing websites with faceted navigation, Google now advises a two-track approach to handling different types of facets.

For non-critical facets, Google recommends blocking them via the robots.txt file to prevent search engines from crawling unnecessary URLs. Alternatively, SEO experts can use URL fragments (#) or implement consistent rel=”nofollow” attributes to prevent crawlers from following these links and wasting resources.

For business-critical facets, the guidance is more involved. Google suggests maintaining standardized parameter formats to help search engines understand and crawl the content efficiently. Additionally, proper 404 handling should be implemented for any broken or non-existent pages, and strategic use of canonical tags is advised to avoid duplicate content issues.