Facets and filters
A facet is a filter with a count next to it — Material: V4A (212). It is how a buyer gets from 400 results to four without typing another word. This article covers which facets appear, in what order, and in what form.
Choose the facets for a category
Facets are configured per category, not once globally. Thread size is the first thing a buyer narrows on for fittings and pure noise on packaging material. A single global facet list is the most common mistake in B2B search, and it makes every listing page slightly wrong.
- Open the category in PIM › Categories and go to its search settings.
- Add the attributes that are useful for this branch of the tree, in the order a buyer decides in.
- Set the display type per facet (see the table below).
- Save. The change takes effect on the next request — facet configuration does not require a reindex, unlike adding a new facet field.
Three rules that hold up in practice:
- Five to eight facets visible. Beyond that buyers stop reading and start scrolling. Put the rest behind More filters.
- Order by how buyers decide, not alphabetically. In technischer Großhandel the first cut is almost always dimension or thread; manufacturer comes later. In Ersatzteilhandel it is the machine.
- Inherit down the tree. Set the facet list on Fittings and let its children use it, overriding only where a subtree genuinely differs. Otherwise you maintain the same list forty times.
Display types
| Type | Use it for | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Checklist | Select attributes with up to ~15 options: material, manufacturer | Multi-select, OR within the facet |
| Range slider | Measurements: pressure, length, weight | Needs a numeric field, not text |
| Range buckets | Measurements with clustered values: up to 10 bar, 10–100 bar, over 100 bar | Better than a slider when values are uneven |
| Swatch | Colour, surface finish | Only where the visual difference is the decision |
| Boolean toggle | in_stock, rohs_compliant | One line, no counts needed |
| Searchable list | Facets with hundreds of values: manufacturer in a large Großhandel | The list itself gets a small search box |
Numeric ranges
A numeric facet only works if the value is stored as a number with a known unit. This is the practical reason measurement attributes exist: the index holds the value converted to the family's standard unit, so 100–250 bar compares correctly against products entered in bar, in MPa and in psi.
Two decisions per numeric facet:
- Slider or buckets. Use buckets when values cluster — most pressure ratings
in a catalog sit on a handful of standard figures, and a continuous slider
invites buyers to select
137–214 barand get nothing. Use a slider when values are genuinely continuous, like length. - Where the boundaries sit. Set them on the standard sizes your industry
uses, not on equal intervals.
M4–M8,M10–M16,M18 and aboveis a useful filter; three equal thirds of the numeric range is not.
Dependent facets
Some facets only make sense once another choice has been made. Thread size is meaningless until the buyer has narrowed to fittings. Bore diameter is meaningless until they are looking at bearings.
The mechanism is straightforward: a facet is declared with a condition, and the storefront only requests and renders it when the condition holds.
| Condition | Facet that appears |
|---|---|
| Category is under Fittings | Thread size, connection type |
Material = v4a or 1.4571 | Surface finish |
| Category is under Bearings | Bore diameter, outer diameter, width |
Dependent facets are how you keep a filter panel short without hiding anything important. They are also how you avoid the facet that shows (0) against every option, which is what happens when an attribute is only filled on part of the catalog.
Facet counts and why they sometimes look wrong
The count next to an option is the number of products that would remain if you selected it, given the filters already applied. Two behaviours confuse people, and both are correct:
- Counts within one facet do not shrink when you select in that facet. Selecting Material: V4A does not reduce the other material counts, because material choices combine with OR. Counts in other facets do shrink.
- Counts never include products the buyer is not allowed to see. A closed channel, a customer-specific assortment, a disabled product — all removed before counting. This is the right behaviour and the usual explanation for "the count does not match the product list in the Cockpit". See Common search problems.
What to check
- Open your three biggest categories on the storefront and count the visible facets. More than eight, cut.
- Select one option in each facet in turn. Every one must reduce the result count and none must produce zero.
- Look for options with a count of one or two across a whole category. That is
usually inconsistent data —
V4Aandv4aas separate options — not a real filter. Fix it in the catalog. - Check a numeric facet against a product you know. If the range excludes it, the unit conversion or the attribute type is wrong.
Next
- Synonyms, stop words and rules
- Search and product discovery — how the facet panel is rendered by the storefront theme.