Faceted navigation control checklist

Faceted navigation control checklist
Filters are the number-one source of crawl waste in pSEO.

☐ Step 1 (SEO): List every facet and decide its fate: indexable, canonicalized, or crawl-blocked. Gate: undecided facet → it stays blocked by default.
☐ Step 2 (Dev): Indexable facet combinations are an explicit allowlist (proven demand). Everything else canonicalizes to base.
☐ Step 3 (Dev): Sort and view-toggle parameters never create indexable URLs — canonical to base, always.
☐ Step 4 (Dev): Block crawl-wasteful parameter paths in robots.txt only when they carry no link equity you need; otherwise canonicalize instead. Gate: don't robots-block a URL that's also canonical-source.
☐ Step 5 (SEO): Internal links point only to allowlisted facets. Gate: no internal link should generate a blocked or canonicalized variant.

Guardrail: facets are opt-in to the index, never opt-out.

Ship gate: don't publish until all boxes are checked.