Magento 2 and ElasticSuite: How to Handle Layered Navigation Without Hurting SEO

Layered or faceted navigation is a powerful feature for Magento 2 stores, especially when enhanced by ElasticSuite. It allows users to quickly filter products by attributes such as size, color, and category. But while it improves user experience, it can also create significant SEO problems - from duplicate content to bloated URLs and crawl budget waste.

Why Layered Navigation Can Harm SEO

Every time a user applies a filter, Magento generates a new URL with query parameters or slugs. Without proper SEO controls, search engines may index these URLs as separate pages. The result? Keyword cannibalization, lower page authority, and a cluttered index full of near-duplicate pages. This is especially risky when using advanced filtering systems like ElasticSuite, which can generate hundreds or even thousands of filter combinations.

The SEO-Safe Approach with ElasticSuite and Hyvä

Magento developers using ElasticSuite in combination with the Hyvä frontend need a structured strategy to prevent SEO damage. Below are the core solutions to implement:

• Canonical URLs: Always point filtered pages to the base category URL using canonical tags. This prevents duplicate indexing and concentrates authority on your primary category pages.
• Meta Robots: Apply noindex, follow on filtered pages using meta robots. This instructs Google not to index the page but to continue following links for crawling.
• Remove Unnecessary Filters from Indexable Pages: Exclude non-valuable filters (e.g. color or size) from generating indexable URLs.
• Configure SEO-Friendly URL Paths: Instead of query parameters, use clean slugs and rewrite logic that maps only selected filter combinations to specific landing pages.
• Dynamic Descriptions and Meta Tags: Update titles and meta descriptions dynamically based on filter combinations to increase relevance without creating thin content.

How Our Extensions Solve These SEO Challenges

At qoliber, we’ve developed purpose-built tools to help merchants and developers handle these SEO complexities without reinventing the wheel. Each extension is fully compatible with both Hyvä and ElasticSuite, and addresses specific layered navigation SEO pain points:

• SEO: Friendly Product URLs – Transforms filter-generated URLs into clean, crawl-safe slugs. Ideal for keeping URLs short, readable, and index-safe.
• SEO: Custom Tags – Lets you control meta robots and canonical tags on any filtered page or dynamic combination.
• SEO: Dynamic Descriptions – Generates dynamic category and filter-based descriptions that reflect active filters while staying compliant with SEO best practices.
• SEO: Advanced Sitemaps – Ensures your sitemap only includes high-value filtered pages that you actually want indexed.

Discover all our SEO tools for Magento 2 at: https://qoliber.com/magento-2-extensions.html

Conclusion: SEO and UX Can Coexist

ElasticSuite’s layered navigation gives your customers an intuitive shopping experience. But without structured SEO controls, it can quietly sabotage your organic visibility. The solution is not to disable filters, but to handle them with precision. Implementing canonical strategies, controlling crawlability, and dynamically enriching filtered pages allows you to unlock the best of both UX and SEO.

With qoliber extensions designed for ElasticSuite and Hyvä, you no longer need to compromise. Build fast, user-friendly, and SEO-optimized Magento 2 stores with confidence.