How Searchanise works for Magento 2

General

Searchanise Smart Search Autocomplete extension is a sophisticated site search solution for stores based on Magento 2. It helps your customers find relevant information when browsing through products, categories, and pages.

After you’ve installed the extension in your store, a full indexation will automatically start: keep in mind it’ll take a while. The extension imports search data to its servers and indexes it for search queries. The search data includes:

• Products that have the Enabled status and the Search/Catalog, Search visibility
• Product Attributes that are:
  • Visible
  • Enabled for search (the Use in search setting)
  • Filterable (the Use in Layered Navigation setting)
  • Enabled for sorting (the Used for Sorting in Product Listing setting)
• Categories that are enabled
• Pages that are enabled

All of the following product fields are searchable:

• Name
• Description
• SKU
• Categories
• Attributes that are enabled for search
• Attributes of all variations in Configurable, Grouped, or Bundle products that are enabled for search

As for categories, you can find them by Name or Description.

As for pages, you can find them by Page Title or Content.

The extension creates its own search engine with an API key for each Store View. So you will have the settings for each one in the Searchanise control panel. You can find the Searchanise control panel in Catalog > Searchanise. In the Searchanise control panel > Dashboard you can see all the created search engines with their API keys.

The extension starts to work right after the first indexation is complete. Further indexation of products, categories and pages occurs automatically in real-time.

You’ll need to run a re-indexation manually to update the search results after:

• A search engine was disabled or removed
• A store-side sync error occurred

To start the re-indexation, click the Force re-indexation button in the Searchanise control panel > Dashboard tab.

You’ll find the extension’s settings in STORES > Configuration > Searchanise.

The extension’s main functionality is twofold: the Instant Search widget and the Search Results widget.

Functionality

Instant Search Widget

The Instant Search widget is built into your existing search bar. If the theme you are using doesn’t have a search bar, the Sticky widget with similar functionality will appear.

As soon as a customer starts typing a query in the search bar, the widget instantly offers suggestions, which update as the user continues typing.

You can learn more about the configuration of the Instant Search widget here.

Personalization

The Personalization feature allows your search to return personalized results based on your customer’s previous product view history.

Sticky Widget

The Sticky widget is a magnifying glass icon for the search bar in your storefront. It is locked in one place, so it doesn’t disappear when a customer scrolls down or up the page.

The widget appears by default if there is no search bar in your store.

Synonyms

You can set up Synonyms for the search terms using the extension too. Synonyms adjust the accuracy of search results for particular search queries.

Stop words

The Stop Words feature helps you achieve even more relevant search results for your customers. Inside the tab, you can make a list of particular words to be ignored by the Searchanise search engine. The engine will skip those words while processing a user’s search query.

Redirects

You can set up Redirects to landing pages for particular search terms. You can redirect to external pages or internal pages – and even product categories.

“Did you mean?” feature

The “Did you mean?” feature helps avoid giving the customer zero results for their search query as it offers suggestions on the search results page about what your customer might have meant.

Search Results Widget

The Search Results widget is a search results page with enhanced filters. It is disabled by default for Magento version 2.4.0 or later. To switch it on, you should go to the Searchanise control panel > Search & Navigation > Search results widget section and select Enable Search results widget option.

The Search Results widget contains filters based on:

• Common product details such as price, category
• Product attributes that have the Use in Layered Navigation setting switched on

You can adjust filters if you need.

You can customize the look and feel of the widget by playing with the color settings and applying Custom CSS.

You can learn more about the configuration of the Search Results widget here.

Merchandising

You can set up merchandising rules for products and product categories to promote specific items or groups of items. You can also do it for particular search queries or any query.

Analytics

The Searchanise extension gathers and introduces the data related to the activities and behavior of your customers: popular search queries and terms, top-performing products, queries that bring zero results, and many more. This data will help you improve your store, allowing you to adjust search engine optimization and introduce new products.

Integrations

You can integrate the Searchanise extension with other extensions for product reviews to use their functionality in the Searchanise widgets.

You can integrate Searchanise with the following Product Reviews extensions:

• Internal reviews – built-in Magento reviews, enabled by default
• Yotpo
• Stamped.io
• Shopper Approved

Subscription

After you’ve installed the extension, you will have a 14-day trial period, with access to all the features.

You can subscribe in the Searchanise control panel by clicking the View all plans button in the top panel.

You can cancel the subscription at any time. After unsubscribing, the extension stops working at once.

If you decide to deactivate/remove the extension, you need to cancel the subscription first. Otherwise, the subscription remains active, and you will be charged for it.

Read more about subscription purchase here.

Support

If you have any questions or you need help with the extension configuration or the extension performance, you can contact us. We will be happy to help you.