\n16 groups with 2 options per group<\/td>\n | 4,296,247,759<\/td>\n | 4,275,284,621<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n The interesting thing here is that the last two tests have some empty results. Yes, all groups used “OR” matching, and yes, I told you “OR” matching does not produce empty results. So what’s going on here? Remember, no matter which match types are used within each group, the groups are combined with each other<\/em> using “AND” matching. So, if you break an “OR” group into many smaller “OR” groups, you get behavior closer to an “AND” group.<\/p>\nAnother way to put it: Suppose there are eight groups with four options each, and the user has selected exactly one option from each group. For any item to show up in those results, the item would have to match all eight<\/strong> of those selected options. This is functionally identical to what you would get if those eight selected options were part of an “AND” group.<\/p>\nIf you are blocking empty results (which you should be doing anyway), then the actual page counts for the last two tests will be much smaller than is shown in this table. Before you get all excited, note that you have to have quite a few groups before this starts happening. It’s possible some site might be in a market where it makes sense to have eight groups with four options each, but it isn’t something that will happen often.<\/p>\n The boring but more practical observation is that even breaking the group into two<\/em> parts reduces the page count noticeably. The difference isn’t huge, but it’s enough to be of some value. If a group of options that uses “OR” matching can be logically separated into two or more smaller groups, then it may be worth doing.<\/p>\nTest #6 — “AND” Matching, Split Into Multiple Groups<\/h3>\n(I’m including this test because, if I don’t, people will tell me I forgot to do this one)<\/p>\n This test is the same as Test #5, but with “AND” matching instead of “OR” matching (and empty results are now being blocked).<\/p>\n \n\n\nConfiguration<\/th>\n | Pages<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n | \n1 group with 32 options<\/td>\n | 1,246,408<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \n2 groups with 16 options per group<\/td>\n | 1,246,408<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \n4 groups with 8 options per group<\/td>\n | 1,246,408<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \n8 groups with 4 options per group<\/td>\n | 1,246,408<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | \n16 groups with 2 options per group<\/td>\n | 1,246,408<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n Yep. They all have the same number of pages. How can this be? The options within each group use “AND” matching, and groups are combined with each other using “AND” matching, so it doesn’t matter if you have one group or several. They are functionally identical.<\/p>\n Takeaway<\/h3>\nIf you want to split up an “AND” group because you think it will make sense to the user or will look nicer on the page, then go for it, but it will not affect page counts.<\/p>\n Other Things that Affect Page Counts<\/h2>\nTest #7 — Changing “Items per Page”<\/h3>\nThis test uses the following parameters:<\/p>\n | |