Configuring faceted searches

Faceted search, also called guided navigation, is a type of search that filters or limits the results by the specific attributes of the products. Faceted search is very popular in online stores because shoppers can quickly sort through their search results to find the exact product they want.

Note: This topic is only relevant if your store uses the enhanced search feature. See How to enable enhanced search for more information.

When you configure faceted search for your store you can precisely define how you want your products to appear in the search results, and whether you want to limit the facets to a certain number of products.

Prerequisite: Before you set up a faceted search, you must configure the search attributes. You can only add attributes that you enabled for indexing. Once you add an attribute to a faceted search, you cannot disable indexing for that attribute when you configure the search attributes. See Configuring search attributes for more information.

Best Practices: When designing a faceted search, note the following:

  1. Do not create too many facets. Do not create a facet for every attribute of your products. Instead, create facets for those attributes that a shopper would use to locate your products or that would affect their decision to buy one product over another. Just because an attribute would be a consideration in a shopper's decision to buy does not necessarily mean that attribute is an important factor when they are comparing similar products to decide which to purchase. Try to learn how your shoppers view your products and what attributes they find most useful when they decide to buy.

    The following table shows some facet examples you might create for specific types of products.

    Type of Product Facet Example
    Televisions Screen Size, Technology (plasma, LCD, and so on), Manufacturer
    Computer Software Platform, Manufacturer, Genre/Category
    Digital Camera Manufacturer, Zoom, Lens Angle
    Book Genre, Subject, Format, Author
  2. Order your facets by importance and use. The order you set for your facets determines the order in which they appear on the store and how a shopper can use those facets to filter their results. Some of your facets will be more important than other facets, and you should make those facets appear first or earlier in the results. Determining which facets your shoppers will find most useful in filtering their search results may require some testing and trial and error in your store.

  3. Display facets as ranges only when it makes sense. You can choose to display your facets in ranges in your store.

    Best Practices: Only use ranges with attributes that deal with numbers like price or when a range makes the most sense for the attributes in question.

  4. Choose the sort order for your facet carefully. You can choose to sort the facet values alphabetically or by the number of results in each. Which method you choose will determine how the results appear and could affect a shopper's ability to locate what they want.

  5. Set a minimum number of results per facet. Carefully choose the minimum number of products you want each facet to display. Setting the facet too high means the facet will not appear but setting "1" as a minimum for all facets may not make sense.

    Best Practices: Performs some test to see what minimums are best for your facets.

Required Role: Search ManagerClosed This Global Commerce user role allows users access to the enhanced search feature.

This role is available in both Big Blue and Global Commerce. If you have this role in one of these systems, you can access this feature.

Prerequisite: Before you set up a faceted search, you must configure the search attributes. You can only add attributes that you enabled for indexing. Once you add an attribute to a faceted search, you cannot disable indexing for that attribute when you configure the search attributes. See Configuring search attributes for more information.

  1. Select Storefront, select Search Configuration and then click Configure Faceted Search. The Configure Faceted Search wizard appears.

  2. To add your facets:

    1. Add the attributes you want to use as facets in your store. Select the attributes you think most shoppers would use to search for your products or attributes shoppers would use to filter or narrow their search results.

    2. Under the Rank column, click and drag each facet in the order they should appear when the shopper sees the search results.

  3. To define your facets:

    1. Choose whether you want each individual facet to use the System Name (the name you see on the accordion tab) or a custom site attribute key.

      • Custom site attribute keys require Site Development work if you want that key to show localized values on the store. Contact your Account Team for more information on getting the site attribute keys created for your store.
      • If your store is not set up to use the custom site attribute key to show localized values, what you enter as the name for the facet will be used in every locale.

    2. Choose whether you want to sort the values or list the values as ranges within the facet.

      Best Practices: Use ranges when the facet values are numeric (like prices or dates). However, you can use them for text values, but you must be very careful when defining those ranges.

      • If you choose to sort the values, you can choose an ascending alphabetical sort, or descending by the number of results.

        If you choose to list the values as ranges be careful how you define the ranges. Use an asterisk to indicate you want them to use the lowest or highest values. Note that the text you enter for the custom site attribute key will appear in all locales in your store unless Site Design sets up the key to display localized values in your store.

    3. Define the maximum number of values that can appear for the specific facet. The search groups the results according to these values.

      Example: If your facet is "size" then the facet values could be "small," "medium," and "large."

      • No Maximum—Select this option if you don’t want to specify a maximum number of facet values that can appear for a specific facet.

      • Maximum Number of Lines Returned—Select this option if you want to set the maximum number of facet values that can appear for a specific facet.

    4. Define the minimum number of search results that will trigger a specific facet to appear.

      • Minimum of One Result—Select this option if you want the facet to appear when there is at least one result (product) with a value that matches the search terms entered by the shopper.

        Minimum Number of Results to Display a Facet—Select this option if you want to define the minimum number of search results (products) a facet must have to appear in the search results.