{"id":1791,"slug":"rule-build-catalogue-when-records-numerous-changing-multi-attribute","title":"R1 — Build a searchable, structured catalogue when records are numerous, change often, or carry several independent queryable attributes","kind":"rule","scope":"business","status":"current","audiences":["kevin","smb-owner","candid-team"],"topics":["structured-content","agency-methodology","information-architecture","faceted-search"],"reference_body":"**Rule:** Recommend building a searchable, structured catalogue when ANY of the following are true:\n\n1. **Catalogue size:** the visitor would otherwise have to scan past a few hundred items.\n2. **Change frequency:** the data updates often enough that maintaining a hand-edited document is error-prone (and risks losing Google rich-results eligibility — [[google-freshness-no-rich-results-stale-time-sensitive-content]]).\n3. **Attribute richness:** items differ along multiple independent dimensions (size, type, location, spec, date, price) that people genuinely filter on.\n\n**Why:** The payoff is documented — [[baymard-list-usability-67-90-vs-17-33-abandonment-2015]] shows the magnitude gap (67-90% vs 17-33% abandonment). The mechanism is the *independent-dimensions* framing ([[nngroup-faceted-search-refinement-definition]], [[algolia-value-scales-multiple-specifications]]).\n\n**How to apply:**\n- The real trigger is the *interaction* of size × change frequency × attribute richness — no source quantifies this jointly. Use the three legs as a checklist.\n- Pair with [[rule-skip-faceted-search-below-200-items-stable-shallow]] for the *don't-build* side.\n- Honest framing: this is a recommendation grounded in mechanism + e-commerce magnitude evidence, not a universally-validated cutoff. See [[caveats-searchable-catalogue-no-isolated-study-vendor-skip-thresholds]].","rationale_body":null,"metadata":null,"links":{"outgoing":[{"slug":"sciencedirect-faceted-search-definition","title":"ScienceDirect — faceted search definition: progressive refinement by independent facets/attributes","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"},{"slug":"nngroup-faceted-search-refinement-definition","title":"Nielsen Norman Group — faceted search refines a large content set; controls + results displayed simultaneously","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"},{"slug":"extractability-prose-vs-records-mechanism","title":"Mechanism summary — structured catalogues expose attributes as data; prose/PDF/images lock them in a format no filter can reach","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"},{"slug":"google-freshness-no-rich-results-stale-time-sensitive-content","title":"Google Search Central — \"We won't show a rich result for time-sensitive content that is no longer relevant\"; data freshness is implicitly rewarded","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"},{"slug":"baymard-list-usability-67-90-vs-17-33-abandonment-2015","title":"Baymard Institute (2015) — sites with mediocre product list usability saw 67-90% abandonment vs 17-33% for sites with even a slightly optimised toolset","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"},{"slug":"algolia-value-scales-multiple-specifications","title":"Algolia (vendor) — faceting helps when catalogs have multiple specifications and broad-based filtering is insufficient","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"},{"slug":"rule-skip-faceted-search-below-200-items-stable-shallow","title":"R2 — Skip faceted search when the inventory is small (~under 200 items), stable, and shallow; a static list is fine","kind":"rule","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"}],"incoming":[{"slug":"research-brief-searchable-structured-catalogue-working-tool-june-2026","title":"Research brief: the searchable, structured catalogue as a working tool — when records-not-prose pays off (June 2026)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"},{"slug":"rule-skip-faceted-search-below-200-items-stable-shallow","title":"R2 — Skip faceted search when the inventory is small (~under 200 items), stable, and shallow; a static list is fine","kind":"rule","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"},{"slug":"baymard-list-usability-67-90-vs-17-33-abandonment-2015","title":"Baymard Institute (2015) — sites with mediocre product list usability saw 67-90% abandonment vs 17-33% for sites with even a slightly optimised toolset","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"},{"slug":"nngroup-faceted-search-refinement-definition","title":"Nielsen Norman Group — faceted search refines a large content set; controls + results displayed simultaneously","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"},{"slug":"algolia-value-scales-multiple-specifications","title":"Algolia (vendor) — faceting helps when catalogs have multiple specifications and broad-based filtering is insufficient","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"},{"slug":"google-freshness-no-rich-results-stale-time-sensitive-content","title":"Google Search Central — \"We won't show a rich result for time-sensitive content that is no longer relevant\"; data freshness is implicitly rewarded","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"}]},"created_at":"2026-06-21T13:17:12.734Z","updated_at":"2026-06-21T13:17:12.734Z"}