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Understanding Facets, Filters, and Sorting for Search and Listing Pages
Sorting through facets and filters: a guide for content authors.
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When a client recently asked me, "How many facets do we need for our listing page?" it revealed to me a common confusion many have about the mechanics of search functionality, particularly facets, filters, and sorting. While these elements may seem similar, each serves a distinct purpose and can significantly impact a website’s usability, search performance, and overall user experience.
Truth be told, I didn’t have a definitive answer to their question regarding “number” of facets, but I was able to get the following from Coveo:
Each query may have a different “ideal” number of facets, but a good general rule is to not have more facets than the results listed.
This was too vague to be of any real value in giving a definitive answer to my client’s original question - we need to dig deeper. Join me as we seek to find out more, starting with understanding what each of these crucial search functions are:
Facets are dynamic categories or attributes that allow users to refine search results based on multiple criteria. On e-commerce websites, facets often include product-specific attributes like size, colour, price range, brand, or material. On content-heavy websites (such as the site you are currently on), facets can cover tags, topics, authors, publication dates, or even geographical regions. The key to facets is that they enable multi-dimensional filtering, meaning users can combine criteria (looking at an e-commerce site, the combined facets might be something like ‘female shoes’; ‘size 11’; and ‘red’) to narrow down their search.
Filters, on the other hand, are static, predefined conditions that refine search results. They act as hard boundaries for excluding irrelevant results. As an example, a filter might exclude out-of-stock products or limit content to a specific date range. While filters can overlap conceptually with facets, filters are typically less flexible, offering fewer combinations and often being applied by default without user input.
Sorting determines the order in which search results are displayed. Common sorting options include alphabetical order, chronological order, relevance, or price (low to high or high to low). Unlike facets and filters, which focus on narrowing the results, sorting focuses on organizing them, and does not limit or refine the results in any way.
Flexibility and Interactivity:
Use Cases for Content Type:
Impact on User Journey:
Improving ‘Findability’:
Improving User Experience (UX):
Boosting Conversion Rates:
When content spans diverse topics, defining meaningful facets can be tricky. Start by grouping content into broad categories, then refine with subcategories. For example, a technology blog might use facets like "AI," "Cloud Computing," and "Tech Reviews."
Facets should ideally reduce the total result set by 70-90%. This range ensures the results remain highly relevant without being too narrow to exclude valuable content. If results frequently fall below this range, revisit the taxonomy and tagging to ensure broader applicability.
Use analytics to monitor how often each facet or filter is used. If a facet isn’t contributing significantly, consider removing or merging it with others.
Content authors must align with developers and designers to ensure facets, filters, and sorting options are implemented correctly. Regular training and documentation help maintain this alignment.
Review the facets and filter strategy and subsequent implementation regularly, assessing user behaviours and their associated queries, and adapting your taxonomy to suit.
Facets, filters, and sorting are powerful tools for enhancing a website’s search functionality and user experience. By understanding their differences and implementing them strategically, content authors can create intuitive, efficient search experiences that delight users and drive engagement.
As for answering my client’s original question regarding the number of facets I felt their site needs, the principle of prioritizing quality over quantity continues to apply. The total number of facets on the site matters far less than how those facets allow the visitor to refine the content to provide meaningful results and a better overall experience.
The next time a client asks, "How many facets do we need for our listing page?” You may still not have a definitive answer, but hopefully, armed with this additional knowledge, you’ll have the information you need to guide them in optimizing their search, filter and facet capabilities.
For more information on understanding and optimizing facets and filters on your site, please check out these resources:
Coveo: https://www.coveo.com/blog/faceted-search/
Algolia: https://www.algolia.com/blog/ux/faceted-search-an-overview
