Search and Synonyms

How your shop's search works, teaching it your customers' words, and reading what people looked for.

The search box matches product names, descriptions, SKUs and the details you have added, and ranks an exact name match above a partial one.

Synonyms

Settings, Search Synonyms teaches the search that two words mean the same thing.

That is how a shopper searching for a word you do not use still finds the product: jumper and sweater, torch and flashlight, courgette and zucchini, or your customers' name for something against the manufacturer's.

Synonyms work in both directions, so you only need the pair once.

Stop Words

Settings, Search Stop Words lists words ignored when searching: the, and, of, a.

The defaults are fine for most shops. The case for adding one is a word that appears in nearly every product you sell, which otherwise matches everything and ranks nothing.

The Search Terms Report

Reports, Search Terms shows what people typed and how many results came back.

The valuable column is the one with no results. Every term there is either a product you should stock, or a word your catalogue does not use for something you do stock. The second is fixed with a synonym in two minutes.

Read it monthly. It is the only place your customers tell you directly what they expected to find.

Improving What Is Found

Search matches your product names most strongly, so a name written the way people say it is worth more than any amount of configuration.

After that, the short description. A product with a good name and a clear first sentence is found; one named to match an internal code is not.

When Something Cannot Be Found

Check in order: that the product is active, that it is not restricted to a customer group the searcher is not in, that the words being searched appear somewhere on it, and whether a synonym would bridge the gap.

A product that is out of stock is still found unless you have configured otherwise, which is usually right: a shopper would rather know you normally stock it.