Faceted navigation and SEO
Faceted navigation creates many URLs (e.g. /shoes?color=red). Without control, these can waste crawl budget and create duplicate or thin content. This guide covers canonical strategies, noindex, and how to link to facets without making every combination indexable.
Controlling indexation
Set canonical from facet URLs to the main category or best representative URL. Consider noindexing facet pages if they add no unique value. Use robots.txt to disallow facet URL patterns if appropriate. Don't link to every facet combination from key pages; use JavaScript or nofollow for filter links if you don't want them crawled. Keep the main category URL as the primary target in the sitemap and internal links.
- Canonical to main
- Noindex or disallow
- Limit internal links to facets