Layered navigation extensions are the most popular extensions that greatly improve a store’s user experience by offering them faster and more organized searching navigation options while they are browsing your store. For Magento 2, there are 2 different Layered Navigation extensions that can greatly improve your store’s revenue & SEO performance. We have listed them below.
| Image | Name | Price | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Layered Navigation for Magento 2 by Aheadworks | $$$$ | 5.0 out of 5.0 |
 | Improved Layered Navigation for Magento 2 by Amasty | $$ | 4.8 out of 5.0 |
Why use Layered Navigation in Magento 2
The normal navigation function in Magento 2 is very rough and creates a disturbing experience for your users. Unreadable sorting URL’s, unnecessary page loads and no custom attribute selection/filter. Installing a layered navigation extension in your Magento 2 store solves these problems, and even adds more functions to your store to increase your store’s performance even more. We’ve laid out all the benefits below.
SEO Friendly URL’s
The default navigation that comes with Magento 2 has really ugly filter URL’s. They look something like this: “electronics.html?cat=12&color=23&megapixels=91&price=100-200“. With the SEO friendly URL’s your URL’s will transform in SEO friendly filter URL’s that look like this: “/electronics/silver/“. They look clean, and very organized which is what search engines like Google love. It also makes it easier to navigate and to remember the URL.
Attribute Multiselect
The default Magento 2 attribute selection filter only lets users select 1 attribute at a time. This is very confusing for customers who are browsing large category pages that have products in multiple sizes and colors for example. With the layered navigation extension you can select multiple attributes at once in Magento 2.
No Page-reloads
In Magento 2, the page reloads after selecting an attribute in your filter. This is very annoying for your users, especially if you don’t have good Magento hosting as each page load will take 2-3 seconds. It really is a useless feature that only disturbs the shopping experience of your customer. With the layered navigation extension customers can select attributes without page reloads. Smart AJAX integration in the extension makes this possible.
Advanced Filter Options
This extension makes it possible to add several new advanced filters to your layered navigation. You can let your users sort using an interactive price slider, sort by star rating (best-reviewed items first), sort on color, shop by brand (display brand image in navigation), only show in-stock and much more. Not only is this very convenient for your customers, it’s also a great way to stand out amongst other stores that do not have these options.
Search by Product Attribute
We all know that the default search option in Magento 2 isn’t the best. It often displays results completely unrelated to the search query. This can cost you a lot of revenue as users won’t find what they are looking for. This extension makes it easier for customers to search on product attributes (Eg: red socks). This greatly increases the accuracy of the search function in Magento 2.
Download Extension
Now that you’ve seen all the benefits of installing a layered navigation extension, it’s time to download the extension that suits your store. As we mentioned earlier in this post, there are 2 layered navigation extensions for Magento 2 that should be considered. They are built by professional, certified, Magento 2 developers. They are open-source, and easy to customize by a developer with understanding of the Magento 2 MVC structure. Each extension has different benefits that you might like, so ultimately it’s your choice.
1. Magento 2 Layered Navigation AheadWorks
Our personal favorite is the extension by AheadWorks. It is easy to install, has the most features and they provide awesome support whenever you have a problem. Because Magento 2 is very new, problems may arise that are hard to fix by yourself, so support is definitely a thing to keep in mind when purchasing the extension. The price of the extension is a bit more than the extension below, but in our opinion it’s worth the higher price. This extension also provides free updates for 6 months after purchase. The extension is available for Community and Enterprise.
2. Magento 2 Improved Layered Navigation Amasty
Our second choice would be the improved layered navigation extension. It’s a little bit cheaper than the one from AheadWorks, but it also has less options. If you do choose for this extension, we highly recommend to include the update’s in your purchase. This extension is very new, and new features are still being added, and with the updates you are sure to get them.
The post Magento 2 Layered Navigation Extensions appeared first on Coding Basics.