Improve Relevance of your Search Results

Here are some best practices to help make your search results more relevant:

• Your search results mostly depend on the data in your item catalog. Better data means better search results.

  So, make sure your item descriptions don’t keep repeating terms from other unrelated items in your catalog.

• For items shown in your web store, make sure the item records are complete. At least specify values for all the fields you’re using as search, facet, or sort fields.

• The Search Fields tab settings affect the default sort order (relevance) of your search results. So, pick item record fields with keywords your customers might use, and add those to the Search Fields subtab. For more information, see Sample Search Fields Setup.

• The top row on the Search Fields list shows the field and match type that get the highest relevance ranking. So, place the field most likely to be searched—like Online Name (Field ID: storedisplayname) or Name (Field ID: itemid)—at the top.

• If you use the same search field multiple times with different match types, place the exact match at the top of the list.

• Use the Starts With type of match for the Online Name search field only if your site uses Type Ahead Search.

• Since fuzzy matches can return irrelevant items (like shirt versus skirt, or cat versus hat), only use the Fuzzy match type if you really need it. If you want accurate search results (like all items matching Shirt at the top), don’t place fuzzy match fields at the top of your Search Fields list. Because the list is ranked from top to bottom, fuzzy matches near the top can bring up unrelated items first.

• Don’t add too many search fields, since it can slow things down and make your results less relevant.

• Only some item record fields work for faceted navigation, depending on the field type. For more information, see Field Set Reference.

• Don’t add too many facets or facet values. For more information, see SEO Page Generator Best Practices.

• Keep facet field values under 200 characters. If they’re too long, the search index won’t rebuild.

• If you have Google Analytics enabled, you can see what search terms your shoppers use. In Google Analytics, go to Behavior > Site Search > Search Terms to see them all. By checking these terms, you can spot areas in your Search Settings to tweak for even better results.

  Important:

  Google Analytics 4 (GA4) has replaced Google Universal Analytics (GAU) as Google’s cross-platform Analytics solution. All standard GUA properties stopped processing new hits on July 1, 2023. 360 Universal Analytics properties will stop processing new hits on July 1, 2024. See Google Analytics 4 for information about GA4, including information about migrating from GUA to GA4.

General Notices