What Smart Filtering does
Smart Filtering is a guardrails layer that runs after the deterministic checks. It tags certain findings as expected or asks you to confirm intent rather than treating them as severe issues.
The result is a shorter, more actionable list — and a much higher trust level when a high-severity item does appear.
- noindex on /cart, /checkout, /login → marked "Confirm intended" rather than critical
- Soft 404s on system pages → flagged for confirmation, not failure
- Crawl budget waste → downgraded to info severity by default
- Marketing and tracking parameter URLs → recognised as expected behaviour
- Filtering rules are deterministic and visible in the evidence block
How filtering works
Filtering runs against URL patterns, response signals, and query markers — never against an AI guess.
- System paths recognised: /cart, /checkout, /my-account, /account, /login, /register, /wp-admin, /wishlist, /compare
- Query markers recognised: add-to-cart=, wc-ajax=, utm_*
- Severity downgrades stored on the finding so you can see the override
- You can re-enable strict mode per site if you want every signal raw
Who benefits most
E-commerce sites running WooCommerce, Shopify, or custom carts where cart and checkout pages routinely return noindex and soft-404 signals.
Membership sites where account, login, and protected pages naturally behave differently from the public surface.
Operators who have been burned by audit tools that flag a hundred "issues" that are not actually problems.
Why this is critical for trust
If your audit screams about cart pages being noindex, you stop trusting the audit. If the audit ignores normal cart behaviour and flags a real noindex on a money page, you act immediately. Smart Filtering is the difference.
A clean audit list is what makes the rest of the platform usable. The high-severity column has to mean something.
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Read moreFrequently asked questions
Can I turn filtering off?
Yes. You can run a strict-mode rescan that bypasses guardrails when you want to inspect every signal raw.
Will it hide a real problem?
No. Guardrails only downgrade severity on system pages with known expected behaviour. Real issues on important pages stay high or critical.
Does it apply to non-WooCommerce sites?
Yes. The system paths and query markers are platform-agnostic. Custom carts and accounts work as long as they sit on standard URL patterns.