How to Add Filtering on My Website: A Complete Technical Guide

In the world of modern web development and ecommerce, user experience is everything. If your website hosts a large catalog whether it’s products, articles, or content types filtering functionality is essential. When users land on your page, they expect to find exactly what they’re looking for in seconds. This is where smart filtering systems become invaluable.

If you’re wondering how to add filtering on your website, this guide breaks down the technical methods, available tools, and how to implement scalable, user-friendly filters that elevate both usability and performance. In addition, we’ll explore whether building filtering from scratch is worth the effort or if better alternatives exist.

1. Why Filtering Is Crucial for Your Website

Filters are an integral part of any site that deals with large data sets. Their goal is to allow users to refine results based on certain attributes.

Benefits of Adding Filters:

• Improves product discoverability
• Enhances user experience and engagement
• Reduces bounce rates and increases conversions
• Allows segmentation by parameters like category, price, color, tags, etc.

Ecommerce stores, directories, blogs, and marketplaces all benefit from a well-implemented filtering system.

2. Types of Filtering Systems

Depending on your content and user needs, you may opt for one or more of the following filter types:

a. Faceted Search Filters

Users can apply multiple filters from different categories (e.g., brand, price, color).

b. Range Filters

These allow numeric filtering, such as prices between $20–$100 or rating scores from 4–5.

c. Hierarchical Filters

These represent filters in levels. For example: Electronics → Laptops → Gaming.

d. Boolean Filters

Toggle filters like “In Stock”, “On Sale”, or “Free Shipping”.

e. Custom Attribute Filters

Allow filtering by custom product attributes like material, model number, or release date.

3. Technical Approaches to Adding Filters

1. Client-Side Filtering (JavaScript-Based)

Filters are applied entirely in the browser. Suitable for small datasets.

Pros:

• Fast updates
• No server requests

Cons:

• Doesn’t scale well with large inventories
• No SEO benefit as content is not crawled

Example:

const filtered = products.filter(p => p.category === 'Shoes' && p.price < 100);

2. Server-Side Filtering (Database-Driven)

Filtering happens on the backend, querying only relevant results.

Tech Stack Examples:

• PHP + MySQL
• Node.js + MongoDB
• Python Flask + PostgreSQL

Example SQL Query:

SELECT * FROM products WHERE category='Shoes' AND price < 100 ORDER BY price ASC;

Pros:

• Scales to large datasets
• SEO-friendly if URLs are dynamically generated

Cons:

• Requires backend development
• Slower for users without AJAX implementation

3. AJAX Filtering (Hybrid Approach)

Uses JavaScript to send asynchronous requests to the server, updating results without a full page reload.

Pros:

• Fast and dynamic user experience
• Retains server-side scalability

Cons:

• SEO requires additional setup (rendered results, canonical URLs)

4. UI/UX Best Practices for Filtering

• Collapsible Filters: Keep interface clean
• Real-time Updates: Display filtered results instantly
• Clear All / Reset Buttons: Improve usability
• URL Parameters: Enable link sharing and SEO benefits
• Mobile Optimization: Use dropdowns or off-canvas filters

5. Is It Worth Building Your Own Filtering System?

Building your own filtering logic gives full control but also comes with challenges:

Pros of Custom Development:

• Tailored to your data and audience
• Full customization of filter behavior
• Easily integrates with your tech stack

Cons:

• Time-consuming to build and maintain
• Requires both frontend and backend developers
• Complex logic for dependent filters or pagination
• Caching and performance tuning become essential

For most websites—especially ecommerce platforms—rolling your own solution from scratch becomes impractical over time.

6. Are There Better Alternatives?

Yes. There are filtering solutions and platforms that take away the heavy lifting, offering out-of-the-box performance, UI design, and scalability.

Notable Alternatives:

• Expertrec (ideal for ecommerce filtering)

Each comes with pros and cons. Algolia and ElasticSearch require dev effort. WordPress plugins are easy but limited in custom behavior. That’s where Expertrec excels.

7. How Expertrec Simplifies Website Filtering

Expertrec offers a no-code/low-code search and filtering engine tailored for ecommerce and content-heavy websites.

Key Features:

• AI-Powered Faceted Search
• Drag-and-Drop Filter Builder
• SEO-Friendly Filter URLs
• Mobile-Responsive UI
• Fast Indexing and Real-Time Updates

Why Use Expertrec:

• No coding skills needed
• Works with all CMS and ecommerce platforms (Shopify, Magento, WordPress, etc.)
• Fully customizable filter interface
• Analytics dashboard to track filter usage

Book a Demo

Whether you’re running a product-heavy ecommerce store or a large blog, Expertrec ensures your users find what they need instantly—without building filtering from scratch.

8. Conclusion

Adding filtering to your website isn’t optional anymore—it’s a necessity. While you can build filters using JavaScript or backend queries, scalability and UX require advanced solutions.

Unless you have a dedicated dev team, building a fast, user-friendly, SEO-optimized filter system is time- and cost-intensive. Tools like Expertrec offer a plug-and-play solution that eliminates the hassle, enabling you to focus on content and conversions.

If your site’s usability and revenue rely on product discovery, now is the time to invest in intelligent filtering.

Book a Demo

FAQs