Having a well-configured search function on your PrestaShop site is important for many reasons. It can enhance customer experience, decrease bounce rates, and boost sales by helping users locate products faster and more efficiently.
To access the Search Configuration log into your PrestaShop back office and navigate to the “Shop Parameters >> Search” page. This will bring you to the options designed to optimize your site’s search functionality.
Basic Configurations
This includes the following:
- Aliases: This feature allows you to account for common misspellings or variations of product names. For instance, if “sneker” is typed instead of “sneaker”, the search engine will still bring up the correct items.
- Indexing: Ensuring your products are properly indexed for search is key. You can either manually re-index all products or set the system to auto-index new ones.
- Minimum/Maximum Word Length: Specifying a minimum and maximum word length for search can help avoid false results from very short or long, incorrect words.
- Blacklisted Words: With this feature, you can stop specific words from being processed by the search.
For more control over your site’s search, consider the following:
Advanced Configurations:
- Weight of Attributes: This lets you determine which attributes hold more importance in search results. You could decide if the product name, description, category, tags, or other factors have more bearing on the search outcome.
- Search Within Word: By default, PrestaShop starts searching from the beginning of the word. Enabling this option lets the search be anywhere within the word.
- Search Exact End Match: If turned on, the word’s end must match the search query exactly.
- Fuzzy Search: This modern feature allows for minor spelling errors in search queries, providing a more flexible search experience.
Performance
While setting up your search, remember that more complex configurations could increase server load and potentially slow down your site. It’s always a good idea to keep an eye on site performance and adjust settings if needed.
Tags
Lastly, don’t forget about the power of tags. Tags can make your products easier to find, especially if your customers are looking for a particular type of product. They can be managed on the same page under the “Tags” tab or added directly in product details.
By the way, you can make tags even more effective by using our module “Ultimate Product Tags“. Although it has no effect on parameters directly related to search, tags have other uses.