The algorithm of our site search features
Site search is a search engine solution that is integrated into your online store. At its most basic, it helps your customers find the exact products they’re looking for on your site by matching their search keywords with the products in your store. By using Product Filter & Search, your site will be applied with our well-designed algorithm, making the site search much more than just a basic search bar.
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How do our site search features work?
The search algorithm will display results based on scanning keywords that are similar to the word entered in the search bar. Information fields that the search algorithm will parse from include:
- Products: our search engine looks for matched products in the searchable attributes, including product title, product type, vendor, tag, product option, SKU, barcode, and description. By default, we turn off the “description” attribute. With searchable attributes, which are product title, product type, and vendor, typo tolerance is acceptable.
You could disable a specific search field or change these fields' priorities to your preferred order.
- Collections, blog posts, and pages: The search engine will return results by crawling their title data only. However, we can offer solutions to make their content to be searchable as well.
In addition to this basic search principle, our search app uses many other algorithms such as fuzzy search, synonyms, and Suggestion Dictionary to customize search results as clearly and concisely as possible.
Customize the minimum must match
Our app uses a search technique, which is called Minimum Must Match, to let you conduct a more controlled search on every phrase that your customers might search for. To improve the accuracy of your customer's search results, the app allows you to adjust the minimum percentage that their search term must match your product data.
By default, the minimum percentage that a 2-word search term must match your product data is set at 100%. With 3-word search terms and one which contains more than 3 words, the Minimum Must Match is recommended at 85%.
To customize the minimum must match:
- From the app’s admin, go to Search > Search settings.
- Go to the Advanced settings tab.
- In the Search Term section, under the 2-word search terms heading and the 3-word and above search terms heading, use the slider or enter at what percentage you want to set your Minimum Must Match.
- Click Save settings.
Customize search fields
Our search engine performs a deep data crawl and product search through all the product attributes that you have to return more exact results.
The app also allows you to turn on and off any product attribute that you do not want the search engine to run through so that search results can be delivered faster. To maximize the speed of search, you can tell our search engine which searchable attributes to look at first by adjusting the order of searchable attributes and setting ones with a higher priority in the list when their data is more relevant to your customers.
To customize your searchable attributes:
- From the app’s admin, go to Search > Search settings.
- Go to the Search fields tab.
- Drag and drop those searchable attributes into your desired priority order.
- Toggle the button of any search attribute that you do not want the search engine to run through.
- Click Save settings.
- If you have other issues relating to search settings when configuring your search, you can send your request to support@boostcommerce.net for further assistance.