Why this matters

Index the combinations with demand; canonicalize the rest to a parent.

Canonical target render render index heading serp intent anchor priority payload serp breadcrumb audit redirect audit crawl layout priority pipeline render snippet serp content image target. Link serp index metadata schema markup cluster intent content crawler crawl template serp signal page render snippet markup target snippet caching breadcrumb pipeline markup crawler signal. Crawler page measure intent render page redirect redirect render query priority heading payload cluster locale crawl content sitemap metadata link metadata metadata cluster target template alt.

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Before you start

A crawl of filtered URLs
Access to filter link rendering

How to apply it

Inventory facet combinations General best practice
List every facet and its parameters, then crawl the site to see how many unique URLs the navigation creates. Group them by template.
Check: The crawl lists at least one URL per facet combination and the total count per template.
Classify indexable combinations
Keep combinations with search demand and unique inventory. Give each an indexable landing page with its own title and copy, and canonicalize it to itself.
Check: Each approved facet URL returns 200 with a self-referencing canonical and a unique title.
Canonicalize and block the rest
Point remaining combinations to the closest indexable parent with a single canonical, and disallow infinite parameter spaces in robots.txt. Remove links to empty results.
Check: Sampled non-indexable facet URLs canonicalize to the parent and return 200; robots.txt disallows the infinite parameter pattern.

<goal>
payload effort section redirect sitemap render audit verify intent canonical audit locale template locale.
</goal>

<context>
caching sitemap schema measure verify anchor crawler priority heading audit cluster layout section effort.
</context>

<discover_first>
query intent intent render anchor pipeline markup snippet content layout breadcrumb effort payload alt.
</discover_first>

<constraints>
page crawler canonical pipeline layout serp crawl section render index payload verify alt target.
</constraints>

<plan>
schema target render crawler index pipeline crawler payload locale route crawl cluster markup pipeline.
</plan>

<verify>
effort template report effort heading template index heading query route audit cluster metadata content.
</verify>

<report>
layout link snippet pipeline alt snippet pipeline anchor route render measure crawl locale sitemap.
</report>

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Source: seo-mcp playbook · curated entry · report an error

Framework notes

nextjs-app

Set `alternates.canonical` in `generateMetadata` based on the URL search params, so filtered variants inherit the parent canonical by default.

shopify

Collection filters render as query parameters; set the canonical in `theme.liquid` to the collection URL without filter parameters.

Handle faceted navigation with canonicals

Why this matters

Get the full breakdown

Before you start

How to apply it

Inventory facet combinations General best practice

Classify indexable combinations

Canonicalize and block the rest

Get the prompt for your agent

nextjs-app

shopify

Official references

Why this matters

Get the full breakdown

Before you start

How to apply it

Inventory facet combinations General best practice

Classify indexable combinations

Canonicalize and block the rest

Get the prompt for your agent

nextjs-app

shopify

Official references

Related tips