Why Are Filter URLs Being Crawled and Indexed? Is Woodmart Contributing to This?

Hi team,

I’m using the Woodmart theme with WooCommerce and recently discovered that Google is crawling and indexing tens of thousands of filter-based URLs, such as:

/engineered-wood-flooring/?filter_colour=grey&filter_thickness=14mm&query_type_colour=or&page=3&per_page=24

These URLs are:

– Not linked in the main site navigation

– Not included in the sitemap

– Have canonical tags pointing to the base category

– Still being discovered, crawled, and even indexed

– Causing significant server load due to crawl spikes

I haven’t made any recent changes to the site structure, and these URLs appear to be generated dynamically through Woodmart’s AJAX filtering system.

❓ My Questions:

1. Why is this happening? Is the way Woodmart handles filters — particularly the way it updates URLs (e.g. via pushState) — making these combinations crawlable by search engines?

2. Was Woodmart designed with crawlability and SEO in mind for filtered results? Or is it expected that site owners will manage indexation manually via robots.txt or meta tags?

3. Should this level of crawlable combinations be considered normal for a site using Woodmart? I want to understand if this is a theme-level behaviour or an unintended side effect that needs controlling externally.

I’m trying to get to the root of the issue before I begin blocking patterns or adding noindex tags. It would help to know if this is something inherent to how the theme functions.

Thanks in advance!

I’ve also noticed that product listing pages are outputting crawlable ?add-to-cart= links in the HTML. These are being picked up by Googlebot and showing up in GSC under failed crawl requests.

Hello,

Thank you for reaching out with your concerns regarding crawl and indexing issues with filtered URLs and add-to-cart links. I’d like to clarify the situation for you.

The URLs you’ve mentioned are actually created and handled by WooCommerce, not the WoodMart theme. Our theme does not influence the indexing behavior of these URLs. To confirm this, you can test the system by disabling AJAX or even activating a default WordPress theme to observe if the behavior persists.

1. The occurrence of these filter-based URLs is due to WooCommerce’s handling of URLs rather than WoodMart’s AJAX filtering system. While WoodMart uses AJAX for filtering, it doesn’t affect the crawlability of URLs.

2. WoodMart was developed focusing on performance and user experience, including SEO considerations. However, filtered results like the ones you’ve mentioned require manual management for indexation control, often using robots.txt or meta tags, as this is not automatically handled by the theme.

3. The level of crawlable combinations you’re experiencing is typical for sites using WooCommerce. It is recommended to manage these through external means to ensure your site’s security and performance levels meet your expectations.

For the add-to-cart links being indexed, this also falls under WooCommerce’s functionality. Adding rules to your robots.txt file or using noindex meta tags can help manage what is crawlable by search engines.

If you continue to experience challenges, you could consider consulting with a SEO specialist for strategies tailored to your site’s needs.

Please let us know if there’s anything else we can assist with. We’re here to help!

Regards

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