Magento 2 Search Settings and Terms

We’ve all been there, after all, fumbling in a large store, trying to search a product

No more in a Magento 2 store!

With the latest version of Magento 2, the search methods are optimized and included in the default functionality. Control product search in Catalog rather than setting up individual methods and configure search terms with the full text MySQL search engine.

Magento 2 Open Source enables using only MySQL as the search engine. Magento 2 Commerce store merchants are offered to work with MySQL, ElasticSearch, and Solr.

Moving on to Magento 2 Search Terms, it helps store owners to learn what users are searching for, know what’s in demand and accordingly shape the efforts to add product to the catalog and increase the sales!

Additionally, if a potential customer is unable to find a product, redirect them to another product rather letting them go empty-handed. A store owner can also add new search terms for better catalog navigation.

Before heading to Magento 2 Search Settings and Terms, lets first know the types of search terms:

1. Landing page: It can be a category, product or content page.
2. Synonyms: There are multiple words describing a single term such a chair can be searched by different people as recliner, cathedra, loveseat, couch, etc. You may loose a sale if the search term doesn’t match the product name. In such a case, you can add multiple synonyms of a product name and direct people to the same landing page.
3. Misspells: You can’t expect people who search for your products to be spellomaniacs.  Peolpe misspell words while searching and thus, use search terms to find common misspells and direct people to appropriate landing page.

The post covers entirely the Magento 2 search settings and terms vividly along with the method to add popular Magento 2 search terms and find the search terms report.

Magento 2 Search Settings

1. Quick SearchThe search box is enabled in the upper right hand of the store frontend where a visitor enters one or more characters to search the product.
2. Advanced Search SettingsThe advanced search allows your users to surf the catalog by a larger set of parameters (product attributes: name, SKU, description, etc.) entered into the form as shown here. The advanced search can be accessed from the footer of the storefront. It returns less and more precise search resultsTo add a new field in the form, configure the below settings:
   1. Login to the admin panel.
   2. Navigate to Stores > Attributes > Product
   3. Select a needed attribute from the Attribute grid
   4. Go to the Storefront properties.
   5. Set the Use in Search to YES.
   6. Save and clear cache.
3. Search ResultsIt includes all the products having the characteristics entered in the Quick search box and the advanced search form. Display the search results in the grid format or the product list sorted by the set of attributes. A pagination control appears in the case if the product list exceeds a one-page size.
4. Weighted SearchWeight Search allows the sellers to allocate a weight for product attributes when they want these attributes to be preferred to appear in search results as compared to other attributes. To configure it, refer to the path of advanced search.
5. Configuring Catalog SearchTo enable MySQL engine and limit the size of the valid query text, follow these steps:
   1. Login to Admin Panel
   2. Go to Stores > Settings > Configuration
   3. Select Catalog option under the Catalog dropdown menu.
   4. Expand Catalog Search
   5. Enter the minimum number of characters the user is allowed to enter in the query in the Minimal Query Length field.
   6. Enter the maximum number of characters the user is allowed to enter in the query in the Maximum Query Length field.
   7. Set MySQL engine as the search engine and save the configuration.

Method to Configure Popular Search Terms

In the default settings, the option is enabled but not connected with the catalog search process. To optimize the rankings, index the search terms by the search engine.

Follow these steps to configure popular search terms:

1. Login to Admin Panel
2. Go to Stores > Settings > Configuration > Catalog > Catalog > Search Engine Optimization and configure as shown below:

Add Search Terms:

1. Login to Admin Panel
2. Go to Marketing > SEO & Search > Search Terms
3. Click on Add New Search Term
4. Enter:
   1. Search Query – add the text of the new term.
   2. Store – select the store view
   3. Redirect URL – enter the redirect URL if you want to redirect the user to another page or website for that query.
   4. Display in Suggested Terms – Enable it to display it as a suggestion if there is no result for a query.
5. Save the configuration

You may edit or delete a search term from the search term grid.

Method to Find the Search Terms Report

1. Login to Admin Panel
2. Go to Reports > Marketing > Search Terms
3. Check the number of results for each term or the number of times the term was applied by the users. Filter the data on the basis of the term, store, results, and hits or export it in CSV or Excel XML format.

That’s it!

Hopefully, you got everything related to the Magento 2 search settings and terms that you need for your Magento 2 store.

Any doubts about the topic are welcomed in the Comments section and I’d be happy to solve 🙂

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