How store search works
Store search lets your customers find products, collections, pages and blog articles using the search box in your storefront header.
Search is built in and works the same way for every store, so there is nothing to configure and no add-on to install. This article explains what is searched and how results are ranked, so you can make sure your products are found.
What is searched
For products, search looks at:
- the product title
- the product description
- product tags
- the SKUs of the product's variations
- the vendor name
- the product type
For collections, pages and blog articles, the title and body are searched.
Search does not look at metafields, custom product options, variation option values, barcodes or images.
Only published products are returned. Unpublished and archived products are excluded, as are products restricted to customer groups that the shopper is not in.
How words are matched
- All of the words must match, in any order. Searching for lando general returns the same products as general lando.
- Part numbers match without exact spacing. A search for 9574 finds a SKU of E9574, and vc 47, vc-47 and VC47 all find a product with a code of VC47.
- Misspellings are tolerated. A search for calrisian still finds Calrissian, as long as the correct spelling appears somewhere in your published content.
- Quoted phrases match exactly. Searching for "general lando" only matches that phrase, in that order.
If a customer searches for several words and one of them does not appear anywhere in a product, that product is not returned. Adding the words a customer is likely to use - a character name, a product line, an alternative spelling or a part number - to the product's tags will make it easier to find.
How results are ranked
Matches in the product title, SKUs and tags rank above matches in the description, so a product whose title contains the search words appears before one that only mentions them in its description.
Up to 50 results are returned. Encouraging customers to be more specific, or to search for a part number, narrows the list.
Tips for making products easier to find
- Put manufacturer part numbers in the variation SKU field.
- Add alternative names, character names and common misspellings as product tags.
- Make sure the words a customer is likely to use appear in the product title or description. A product whose description never mentions a character, series or line will not be found by that name.
- Keep titles specific - the title carries the most weight in ranking.