Kenny has been a shopaholic forever. He finds his answers by navigating through ecommerce sites and shopping for essentials. It calms his mind when he dodges his liabilities by shopping well. But what creates a disorder is the unevenness of the ecommerce sites. He wonders if someone can add another dimension to ecommerce site search filters or facets. How will it be different from the usual filtering? So here we are to unravel the search facets vs. filters.

Yes, filtering system? The one by which we can filter out our product attributes?

The filtering system is often placed by something other than the ecommerce brand owners. The ecommerce sites patronizing such features lose out on many customers like Kenny daily.

Key Takeaways

• Filters are broad categories, usually static, that help shoppers begin their journey by narrowing down products into high-level groups such as Men, Women, Shoes, or Accessories.

• Facets act as dynamic subsets of filters, adapting to each query and offering specific attributes like color, brand, material, size, genre, or author.

• Facets speed up decision-making, allowing shoppers to progressively refine results from thousands of products to a small, highly relevant set.

• Range facets solve variable attributes, such as price, by grouping products into meaningful ranges that match real shopping behavior.

• Multiple facet selection helps shoppers reach the exact item, combining attributes across categories and drilling down with precision.

• Dynamic faceting creates a tailored experience, updating facet lists based on the searched term, ensuring every query presents the most relevant refinements.

Search Facets vs Filters

Facets

Facets are children of the defined filters. They are more like adopted ones because they may change dynamically based on the query (which we might discuss later). For example, a shirt can be of ‘Brand: Tommy Hilfiger,’ ‘Size: M,’ and ‘Color: Blue.’ Shoppers find it easier to choose if such distinctions are well-framed and provided on the site.

Filters and Facets help to lead the otherwise embryonic websites to a much more mature state by providing diversity in a better form.

Let’s dive deep into ‘Facets’:

Facets and their values strain out all the unnecessary products that don’t intend for your shopper’s target query. Suppose they typed the query ‘Books’ on the search bar of your ecommerce site. Now, tracking the query, you are sure the shoppers are looking for books, but then:

Any specific author?

Any specific genre?

Any recommendations?

The above screenshot is from one of our customers in the UK, World of Books.

And exactly these questions are marked as filtered facets. So, for the query ‘q=books,’ facets are:{ Genres, Authors, Price, Format, Language}.

Genre: Thriller, Romance, Biographies, Fiction

Author: Paulo Coelho, J.K. Rowling, Stephen King, Amish Tripathi

Format: Paperback, Hardcover, Kindle

Now, these facets help shoppers make their own divisional choices, and within minutes, you can see them at their cart paying for it, not abandoning it. So, even if you start with the query ‘Books,’ which contains 1700 products, by selecting the facets genre, you narrow it down to 160, and by selecting ‘Thriller’ from the facet genre, you come down to 42.

But the aforementioned facets were all ‘Text’ Facets. Text facets are the ones that have single String values. But what is the solution if we have a popular attribute like ‘Price’?

No shopper is ever going to say, ‘Oh! I am searching for a shirt that is specifically for $45.5. We mean not the normal ones. Instead, people have a pre-imposed filter on their products like ‘I am looking for shirts for a range like $30-$40. Not more than that.’ So, price facets were introduced as ‘Range’ facets, which categorize products into different ranges.

For query: books,

Price facet may have values:

$5-$15

$16-$25

$26-$50

And so on.

More ways to use Facets?

Multiple Facets

When facets have made your life easier, how about selecting multiple of them? Now, after navigating to Books > Genre> Thriller, which made your search results in 42 products, you would still want your shoppers to get to their favorites. So, they select another facet on the filter category ‘Author: Sidney Sheldon’ to further filter them down. And now, after Books > Genre> Thriller and Books > Author> Sidney Sheldon, we see

Woah! Just 12 results.

And definitely, a person who triggers down to such depth can make a viable decision out of the 12 products they see. This shortens the path to purchase by narrowing down the options and fastening the decision-making process. That is the power of Filters and Facets.

Dynamic Faceting

While filters are generic for all the query types, facets are specific and change dynamically with each query typed. Not many search engines provide this asset, but with Unbxd’s AI tech, you can have a facet list for every searched query. So, if the query is men’s shoes, the facets appear as color and size. If the query is ‘Hard Disk,’ the facets appear as ‘Brand,’ ‘Connection type,’ ‘Format,’ and ‘Size.’

If the query is ‘Pillows,’ the facets appear as ‘Brand,’ ‘Bedding Size,’ ‘Material,’ and so on.

Why are Filters important?

Filters diversify the product catalog by putting them under relevant categories of attributes. Filter terms are generic in their definition. A broad category of terms like ‘Men’ and ‘Women’ is defined as filters. When you provide these filters, your shopper is elated and quickly selects a filter to match his choice.

Shoppers enter a site, but they look for an overall differentiation. Women entering the site would want skirts/jewelry/shorts, while the men would want pants/shirts/trousers.

For proper diversification, catalogs are categorized as Men, Women, Shoes, Accessories, etc.

Applying filters is as important as any other Merchandising Technique. But once you select an overarching category, what about digging deeper

Which is the one you need?

Search Facets vs. Filters have taught us that it add an extra layer of detailing and intelligence for properly displaying products. However, filters, unlike facets, do not change dynamically. So, facets can also be defined as subsets of filters. With attributes defined as facets, you let your shoppers take a happy face home, which remains an alien topic to many.

Therefore, if you need to affix this capability along with numerous other features to make your ecommerce site search stronger and easier for your shoppers, then book a demo and let your ecommerce site roll over the charts.

FAQs

What is the main difference between filters and facets?

Filters represent high-level, fixed categories, while facets are attribute-level refinements that adjust dynamically based on the search query.

Why do facets matter in ecommerce search?

Facets help shoppers move from broad results to specific choices quickly, reducing friction and improving the likelihood of completing a purchase.

Do facets change for every search query?

Yes. Facets adapt to the context of each query, showing only the most relevant attributes for that product type.

Can filters and facets work together?

They work best together. Filters structure the catalog at a high level, and facets refine the results within each category or search query.

What is the benefit of range facets like price ranges?

Range facets match real shopping intent by grouping variable numeric values, helping shoppers refine results based on budget or thresholds.

Why is multi-facet selection important?

It allows shoppers to apply several attributes at once, making the journey faster and leading to highly precise product matches.

How do dynamic facets improve product discovery?

Dynamic facets ensure the most relevant attributes appear for each term, making search results more organized, accurate, and intuitive.