In case your WooCommerce retailer has loads of merchandise, including product filters may be an effective way to assist buyers discover the merchandise which can be most related to them.
Whereas WooCommerce does embrace some fundamental built-in filter performance for costs and different particulars, a devoted WooCommerce product filter plugin will allow you to add extra helpful product filters and create a greater interface (reminiscent of organising a WooCommerce Ajax product filter).
PWF is a freemium WooCommerce product filter plugin that permits you to create filters for any product particulars, from worth to ranking, taxonomies, attributes, and extra. It additionally contains different useful options reminiscent of Ajax filter outcomes and clear, Web optimization-friendly filter URLs with dynamic Web optimization metadata (which might help you rank for related long-tail queries).
Moreover, whereas the plugin does focus totally on WooCommerce product filters, you too can use it to create filters for different put up sorts.
In our hands-on PWF assessment, we’ll share extra in regards to the options on this WooCommerce product filter plugin and likewise provide you with an in depth take a look at what it’s wish to configure and use in your retailer.
PWF Assessment: What Does the Plugin Do?
On the whole, the high-level good thing about PWF is that it permits you to create frontend filters that your guests can use to extra simply uncover related WooCommerce merchandise (or different sorts of content material).
Right here’s an instance of the sorts of filters that you could create with PWF:
To take away friction, the plugin permits you to use Ajax to use filters with out reloading the web page (you too can disable the Ajax filters for those who don’t like this method).
Past making use of the filters with Ajax, you too can use Ajax pagination if desired. In complete, you get three choices to deal with pagination:
- Ajax load extra
- Infinite scroll
- Commonplace pagination (clickable web page numbers)
Past the “regular” vertical filter format, PWF additionally permits you to use a horizontal format that seems above the product record.
Let’s undergo another characteristic specifics that will help you perceive the plugin…
Product Information That You Can Filter
To create probably the most useful filters potential, PWF permits you to filter by some or all the following product information:
- Product attribute
- Product class
- Product tag
- Any taxonomy (together with customized taxonomies)
- Inventory standing
- Writer
- Customized area (meta) – this contains product add-on fields, in addition to simply typically any customized area
- On sale standing
- Featured standing
- Score
- Product visibility
- Product transport sort
- Product sort (e.g. easy vs variable)
Frontend Filter Area Sorts
To filter all of that product information, PWF comes with a variety of completely different area sorts to select from:
- Checkbox record
- Radio record
- Dropdown record
- Colour record
- Field record
- Textual content record
- Date
- Worth slider
- Vary slider
- Score
- Button
- Classes
- Inventory Standing
You can even add a basic “Search” area that lets customers search by key phrase.
Web optimization-Pleasant Filter URLs
Loads of product filter plugins work by including question parameters to the URL. That is fantastic for customers, but it surely signifies that you gained’t be capable of rank your filter pages in Google and different engines like google.
For some niches, although, these programmatically created filter itemizing pages is usually a actually good solution to rank for longtail key phrases.
For instance, whereas it’s not an eCommerce retailer, Nomad Checklist makes use of this Web optimization-friendly filter URL method to rank for many longtail queries primarily based round discovering cities to dwell in. Right here’s an instance of an Web optimization-friendly URL that was programmatically constructed from filters:
https://nomadlist.com/places-with-a-tropical-climate-in-asia-and-clean-air-all-year-and-cheap-hotelsWith PWF, you’ll be able to implement the identical type of technique.
Past simply utilizing clear URLs, the plugin additionally provides you an Web optimization instrument that permits you to arrange templates for the Web optimization title, meta description, filter web page title H1, breadcrumbs, and brief description (nice for including some distinctive content material to every filter web page).
There’s additionally a characteristic to incorporate your filter pages in your XML sitemap.
Works for Extra Than Simply WooCommerce Merchandise (Filter Any Submit Sort)
Whereas the plugin focuses on serving to you arrange WooCommerce product filter performance (and that’s additionally the primary focus of our PWF assessment), it’s price mentioning that PWF works for extra than simply WooCommerce merchandise.
You can even use it to create filters for any put up sorts, together with weblog posts or customized put up sorts that you just’ve created in your web site.
Constructed-In Filter Analytics
That will help you perceive how persons are utilizing your filters, PWF features a built-in analytics instrument that permits you to see information reminiscent of which filters persons are utilizing, how usually individuals use filters, and extra.
Different Notable Options
Past what I’ve described above, listed here are a number of different notable options that PWF affords:
- Conditional logic – disguise sure filters primarily based on conditional logic.
- Fashion choices – you get an excellent variety of choices to manage the model and format of your filters.
- Kind choices – select the default kind order and choices on your filtered merchandise.
- Customized CSS – customise the CSS lessons and IDs to extra simply use your individual customized CSS.
- Web page builder help – the plugin integrates with hottest web page builder plugins together with Elementor, Divi, Beaver Builder, Oxygen, and others.
The right way to Add WooCommerce Product Filters With PWF
Now that you understand extra in regards to the plugin’s performance, let’s dig into what it’s like to truly use PWF to arrange product filters in your retailer.
Be aware – I’m utilizing the premium plugin on my web site. Whereas the fundamental options and interfaces are the identical, a number of the options that you just see beneath require the premium model. Extra on pricing later.
As soon as you put in and activate the plugin, you’ll get a brand new Filters tab in your WordPress dashboard to entry all the plugin’s performance.
Along with the interface so as to add a bunch of filters, you additionally get three different areas:
- Settings – management basic settings for the plugin.
- Web optimization Guidelines – permits you to enhance the Web optimization of your filter pages.
- Analytics – permits you to view analytics on filter utilization.
Let’s undergo including a brand new filter group
1. Create a New Filter And Edit Settings
So as to add your first group of filters, you’ll be able to go to Filters → Add New.
On this interface, you’ll see two columns:
- Gadgets – that is the place you’ll add the filter choices.
- Filter setting – that is the place you’ll configure basic settings on your filter, reminiscent of which sort of content material to filter, whether or not to make use of Ajax, how one can deal with pagination, and so forth.
To get began, you’ll wish to undergo the Filter setting choices.
The Common tab (pictured above) is necessary as a result of it permits you to management Ajax, pagination, fairly URLs, and so forth.
The Database Question tab can also be essential because it permits you to select which content material to filter.
The default is to filter WooCommerce merchandise.
Nevertheless, as I discussed above, you too can add filters for any put up sort in your web site, together with customized put up sorts. This tab is the place you’ll be able to management that conduct utilizing the Submit Sort drop-down.
You can even use the Question Sort drop-down to set various kinds of queries, reminiscent of including these filters on a product class web page as a substitute of the primary store archive.
Lastly, the Pages drop-down lets you choose particular pages in your web site to make use of this filter, reminiscent of the primary store web page or particular archive pages.
The opposite tabs additionally embrace some helpful settings, primarily to do with the looks of your filters. However the Common and Database Question tabs maintain a lot of the meat on the subject of your filter group’s conduct.
2. Add Filter Gadgets
When you’ve arrange the overall filter settings, you can begin including filter choices. To do that, you’ll click on the Add merchandise button beneath the Gadgets record.
This can present a listing of filter fields and presets that you could add. There’s additionally a column format possibility, which helps you to create multi-column filter layouts:
Selecting a area sort will then broaden choices to allow you to customise that area. Most significantly, you’ll be able to select the supply for the choices for this filter.
For instance, let’s say you wish to add a checkbox record to pick from product classes. You’ll set the supply of choices equal to Taxonomy after which choose Product classes as the particular taxonomy. You could possibly additionally go much more particular if desired.
One other helpful possibility is Show guidelines. These allow you to disguise a filter primarily based on different situations (AKA conditional logic). You may disguise a filter when some or all the following situations are true:
- Attribute
- Class
- Tag
- Different taxonomy
- Web page
Lastly, the URL key can also be necessary for organising fairly URLs, as this allows you to management the URL construction of your Web optimization-friendly URLs.
Every filter merchandise additionally has a Visible Settings tab that features some show choices, together with letting you add a customized CSS class to simply that filter.
The precise choices will rely on what sort of filter area you’re including.
Right here’s one other instance for a Colour Checklist filter. You could possibly select the “Colour” attribute after which hyperlink precise shade swatches to every attribute:
Among the preset filters are quite simple. For instance, the Score filter solely has a number of choices:
There’s additionally a Search filter that permits you to search in all product information or simply the product title:
I can’t present you each single area sort. However typically, you get an excellent quantity of customization choices for every thing.
3. Add Your Filter to the Frontend
When you’ve arrange your filter group, the ultimate step is to manage the place so as to add these filters on the frontend of your retailer.
The plugin provides you two choices:
- Shortcode – you’ll be able to add the shortcode wherever in your web site, together with in a Shortcode block within the block editor. You can even use the do_shortcode operate to incorporate it straight in your theme’s template recordsdata.
- Widget – you’ll be able to add the widget to any widgetized space (this works with each block widgets and the Traditional Widgets plugin).
To search out the shortcode, go to the primary Filters space in your dashboard:
To make use of the widgets, open the widget interface and use the PWF widgets as wanted:
Along with a widget to show the filters, you additionally get widgets for energetic filters and the Web optimization brief description.
After including the widget, listed here are my filters on my instance retailer:
4. Set Up Web optimization Performance
If you happen to’re utilizing Web optimization-friendly URLs, you’ll undoubtedly wish to benefit from PWF’s performance to arrange dynamic templates for necessary Web optimization particulars.
These allow you to auto-generate necessary content material primarily based on the filters {that a} person has chosen. For instance, if a person selects filters for “T-Shirt product class”, “Blue shade attribute”, and “Cotton materials attribute”, you may auto-generate a title like “Blue Cotton T-Shirts: Purchase Them Immediately”.
To set this up, go to Filters → Web optimization Guidelines to start out including your Web optimization guidelines.
Based mostly in your chosen Web optimization URL, every Web optimization rule permits you to dynamically make modifications to the next particulars:
- Meta title
- Meta description
- Web page title H1
- Breadcrumbs
- Quick description
If you happen to click on the three dots icon, you’ll be able to broaden a listing of accessible variables, which allow you to dynamically insert data primarily based on a person’s chosen filter.
For instance, “Finest %shade% %class%” would change into “Finest Blue T-Shirts” if a person selects the “Blue” shade filter and the “T-Shirts” class.
You may create basic guidelines for total classes or you’ll be able to dig in and create guidelines for particular attribute and class combos (or different particulars).
Whereas it’d take you a while to arrange the foundations, it is a actually highly effective characteristic for Web optimization and may set you as much as routinely rank for loads of longtail queries.
PWF Pricing
PWF is available in each a free model at WordPress.org, in addition to a premium model at Envato’s CodeCanyon market.
The free model contains a lot of the core options, together with Ajax filters.
Nevertheless, you’ll must improve to the premium model if you would like entry to the next enhancements (that is only a partial record – there are extra premium options):
- Clear, Web optimization-friendly product URLs. For instance, the premium model creates URLs like
yoursite/product-category-mobile/color-black/, whereas the free model creates URLs with question parameters like soyoursite/?product-category=cellular&shade=black. - Web optimization instrument. Dynamically regulate Web optimization data primarily based on the chosen filters.
- Extra format choices. Use horizontal or vertical layouts.
- Extra filter choices. Whereas the free model helps the core product particulars, the premium model provides much more choices.
- Extra filter area sorts. The premium model provides new filter area sorts reminiscent of field record, vary slider, date, and extra.
- Search field. Past the brand new filter area sorts, the premium model additionally lets individuals search by key phrase.
- Analytics. The premium model provides built-in analytics as a way to see how persons are utilizing your filters and which filters generate probably the most curiosity.
Fortunately, the premium model is sort of inexpensive at simply $39 to be used on a single web site with lifetime updates and 6 months of help (the usual Envato license).
That lifetime updates profit is very necessary on the subject of long-term worth as a result of it means you gained’t must proceed renewing your license.
Closing Ideas on PWF
Total, PWF provides you a fairly versatile solution to arrange filters for WooCommerce merchandise, in addition to different put up sorts in your web site.
When it comes to the filters themselves, you get loads of choices for information to filter and frontend enter fields to make use of.
My favourite characteristic, although, is the Web optimization-friendly URLs and the Web optimization instrument to dynamically generate the content material wanted to rank these URLs for longtail queries.
If you wish to take a look at out the plugin, you’ll be able to mess around with the free model at WordPress.org. Nevertheless, I believe that one of the best options are within the premium model, so I like to recommend upgrading if potential. Since you get lifetime updates, the $39 worth is sort of inexpensive over the long run.
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