ECMS Site Search - Revision history

Malcolm lee: /* And/Or Settings */

2010-09-07T16:07:46Z

And/Or Settings

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:07, 7 September 2010
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	This setting requires a template modification to change. In the '''sitesearch.tpl''' template there are the two following lines:		This setting requires a template modification to change. In the '''sitesearch.tpl''' template there are the two following lines:

			===='''And''' Setting====
	<pre>		<pre>
	<input type="hidden" name="category_andor" value="and" /> -->		<input type="hidden" name="category_andor" value="and" /> -->
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	----		----

			If you want to modify the settings from '''and''' to '''or''' (or vice-versa) then you need to change the value in the 'value="'''and'''"' field and save the template (make sure you publish it if you want it on your live site).

			===='''Or''' Setting====
			<pre>
			<input type="hidden" name="category_andor" value="or" /> -->
			<input type="hidden" name="andor" value="or" />
			</pre>

	If you have questions please contact eCMS support at [mailto:ecms@newhavensoftware.com ecms@newhavensoftware.com]		If you have questions please contact eCMS support at [mailto:ecms@newhavensoftware.com ecms@newhavensoftware.com]

	--Malcolm		--Malcolm

Malcolm lee at 16:04, 7 September 2010

2010-09-07T16:04:43Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:04, 7 September 2010
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	I went to Amazon and searched for 'rug' and received 563,090 results. Obviously I cannot look through that many items, I would need to narrow my search. But if I apply the filters: "8 x 10", with a floral pattern and made out of wool I only see 75 results. Those are the only 75 results I care about so I have closer to 100% relevancy on my search now, rather than .00013990188214665447% by just using the term 'rug'.		I went to Amazon and searched for 'rug' and received 563,090 results. Obviously I cannot look through that many items, I would need to narrow my search. But if I apply the filters: "8 x 10", with a floral pattern and made out of wool I only see 75 results. Those are the only 75 results I care about so I have closer to 100% relevancy on my search now, rather than .00013990188214665447% by just using the term 'rug'.

			===And/Or Settings===
			There is another setting in the templates that is not controlled by an admin setting at this time, it is the 'and/or' setting. This setting controls how searches are done when more than one search string is provided. For example, if you search for 'ball cap' and have it set to '''or''', then any item that contains 'ball' or 'cap' will be returned. This could be a lot of items. If you have it set to 'and' then only items that contain both terms will be returned.

			This setting requires a template modification to change. In the '''sitesearch.tpl''' template there are the two following lines:

			<pre>
			<input type="hidden" name="category_andor" value="and" /> -->
			<input type="hidden" name="andor" value="and" />
			</pre>
	----		----



	If you have questions please contact eCMS support at [mailto:ecms@newhavensoftware.com ecms@newhavensoftware.com]		If you have questions please contact eCMS support at [mailto:ecms@newhavensoftware.com ecms@newhavensoftware.com]

	--Malcolm		--Malcolm

Malcolm lee: /* Use Category Filters */

2010-09-07T15:25:32Z

Use Category Filters

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:25, 7 September 2010
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	I went to Amazon and searched for 'rug' and received 563,090 results. Obviously I cannot look through that many items, I would need to narrow my search. But if I apply the filters: "8 x 10", with a floral pattern and made out of wool I only see 75 results. Those are the only 75 results I care about so I have closer to 100% relevancy on my search now, rather than .00013990188214665447% by just using the term 'rug'.		I went to Amazon and searched for 'rug' and received 563,090 results. Obviously I cannot look through that many items, I would need to narrow my search. But if I apply the filters: "8 x 10", with a floral pattern and made out of wool I only see 75 results. Those are the only 75 results I care about so I have closer to 100% relevancy on my search now, rather than .00013990188214665447% by just using the term 'rug'.

			----

	If you have questions please contact eCMS support at [mailto:ecms@newhavensoftware.com ecms@newhavensoftware.com]		If you have questions please contact eCMS support at [mailto:ecms@newhavensoftware.com ecms@newhavensoftware.com]

	--Malcolm		--Malcolm

Malcolm lee at 15:25, 7 September 2010

2010-09-07T15:25:19Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:25, 7 September 2010
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	If you have questions please contact eCMS support at [mailto:ecms@newhavensoftware.com ecms@newhavensoftware.com]		If you have questions please contact eCMS support at [mailto:ecms@newhavensoftware.com ecms@newhavensoftware.com]

	--Malcolm		--Malcolm

Malcolm lee at 15:24, 7 September 2010

2010-09-07T15:24:49Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:24, 7 September 2010
Line 48:		Line 48:

	I went to Amazon and searched for 'rug' and received 563,090 results. Obviously I cannot look through that many items, I would need to narrow my search. But if I apply the filters: "8 x 10", with a floral pattern and made out of wool I only see 75 results. Those are the only 75 results I care about so I have closer to 100% relevancy on my search now, rather than .00013990188214665447% by just using the term 'rug'.		I went to Amazon and searched for 'rug' and received 563,090 results. Obviously I cannot look through that many items, I would need to narrow my search. But if I apply the filters: "8 x 10", with a floral pattern and made out of wool I only see 75 results. Those are the only 75 results I care about so I have closer to 100% relevancy on my search now, rather than .00013990188214665447% by just using the term 'rug'.

			If you have questions please contact eCMS support at [mailto:ecms@newhavensoftware.com ecms@newhavensoftware.com]
			--Malcolm

Malcolm lee: /* Limit the fields searched */

2010-09-07T15:23:26Z

Limit the fields searched

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:23, 7 September 2010
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	===Limit the fields searched===		===Limit the fields searched===
	Currently you ~~are~~ set to search "keywords,prod_name,sku,desc_header,prod_description,cust_1,cust_2,cust_3,cust_4,cust_5,cust_6,attribute1,attribute2,attribute3,attribute4". This may seem like a good idea because you are matching as many fields as possible, but it's not very targeted. You do not want to overwhelm a customer with too many results. Which fields are important to you? Think about your own searches on the web.		Currently you may be set to search "keywords,prod_name,sku,desc_header,prod_description,cust_1,cust_2,cust_3,cust_4,cust_5,cust_6,attribute1,attribute2,attribute3,attribute4". This may seem like a good idea because you are matching as many fields as possible, but it's not very targeted. You do not want to overwhelm a customer with too many results. Which fields are important to you? Think about your own searches on the web.

	=== Choose whole word matches===		=== Choose whole word matches===

Malcolm lee: /* Additional Settings */

2010-09-07T15:19:56Z

Additional Settings

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:19, 7 September 2010
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	I took a recent product export from a customer's site and did a little benchmarking. I searched all the available fields for the term "rug" and returned 2,155 results. I did a whole word match only and came back with 1,905 matches. I then went into the admin and did a count on all the product name that contain the term "rug" and found 590 results. When I did a whole word match it came back with 573. ''I didn't eliminate inactive items as I'm only using this for reference.''		I took a recent product export from a customer's site and did a little benchmarking. I searched all the available fields for the term "rug" and returned 2,155 results. I did a whole word match only and came back with 1,905 matches. I then went into the admin and did a count on all the product name that contain the term "rug" and found 590 results. When I did a whole word match it came back with 573. ''I didn't eliminate inactive items as I'm only using this for reference.''

	So what happens when a user searches for a term that returns too many results? Rather than slow the system down the search just returns the message "Your search returned too many results. Please refine your search and try again." But there are a ~~few~~ things you can do to minimize this:		So what happens when a user searches for a term that returns too many results? Rather than slow the system down the search just returns the message "Your search returned too many results. Please refine your search and try again." But there are a number of things you can do to minimize this:

	===Check your Search Terms Report===		===Check your Search Terms Report===

Malcolm lee: /* Additional Settings */

2010-09-07T15:19:39Z

Additional Settings

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:19, 7 September 2010
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	I took a recent product export from a customer's site and did a little benchmarking. I searched all the available fields for the term "rug" and returned 2,155 results. I did a whole word match only and came back with 1,905 matches. I then went into the admin and did a count on all the product name that contain the term "rug" and found 590 results. When I did a whole word match it came back with 573. ''I didn't eliminate inactive items as I'm only using this for reference.''		I took a recent product export from a customer's site and did a little benchmarking. I searched all the available fields for the term "rug" and returned 2,155 results. I did a whole word match only and came back with 1,905 matches. I then went into the admin and did a count on all the product name that contain the term "rug" and found 590 results. When I did a whole word match it came back with 573. ''I didn't eliminate inactive items as I'm only using this for reference.''

	So what happens when a user searches for a term that returns too many results? Rather than slow the system down the search just returns the message "Your search returned too many results. Please refine your search and try again." But there are a few things you can do to minimize this.		So what happens when a user searches for a term that returns too many results? Rather than slow the system down the search just returns the message "Your search returned too many results. Please refine your search and try again." But there are a few things you can do to minimize this:

	===Check your Search Terms Report===		===Check your Search Terms Report===

Malcolm lee: /* Settings Overview */

2010-09-07T15:19:05Z

Settings Overview

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:19, 7 September 2010
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	==Settings Overview==		==Settings Overview==

	There are a few options in the admin as to how the search is performed. One of the settings is "Choose the type for the site search:", and the available options are "Return partial and whole word matches" and "Return only whole word matches". Whole word matches are exact matches. If a customer searches for rug then the search would only return items that have the term "rug". If you have it it set to return partial word matches then any item containing a word that has "rug" anywhere in it will be returned, like drug, drugs, rug, rugs, rugby, rugged, shrug, shrugs, shrugged, frugal, trug, etc. ~~This~~ can return a lot of results.		There are a few options in the admin as to how the search is performed. One of the settings is "Choose the type for the site search:", and the available options are "Return partial and whole word matches" and "Return only whole word matches". Whole word matches are exact matches. If a customer searches for "rug" then the search would only return items that have the term "rug". If you have it it set to return partial word matches then any item containing a word that has "rug" anywhere in it will be returned, like drug, drugs, rug, rugs, rugby, rugged, shrug, shrugs, shrugged, frugal, trug, etc. As you can see this can return a lot of results.

	The other option that effects the amount of results returned is the "Choose fields to use with the site search" option. If you are currently setup to "Use the fields defined in the search templates", (which are: "keywords,prod_name,sku,desc_header,prod_description,cust_1,cust_2,cust_3,cust_4,cust_5,cust_6,attribute1,attribute2,attribute3,attribute4, then all of those fields are indexed and searchable when a user enters a search term.		The other option that effects the amount of results returned is the "Choose fields to use with the site search" option. If you are currently setup to "Use the fields defined in the search templates", (which are: "keywords,prod_name,sku,desc_header,prod_description,cust_1,cust_2,cust_3,cust_4,cust_5,cust_6,attribute1,attribute2,attribute3,attribute4, then all of those fields are indexed and searchable when a user enters a search term. So for example, if you have 1,000 products indexed by 1,000 words per product then that is 1,000,000 words that need to be indexed. This makes the likelihood of returning the product the customer is searching for less likely.

	So for example, if you have 1,000 products indexed by 1,000 words per product then that is 1,000,000 words that need to be indexed. ~~If you have 300 stores all with 1,000,000 indexed words then you can imagine~~ the ~~resources that would use. Google has a few millions servers (and a few billion dollars) they can throw at search so something like this~~ is ~~nothing to them, but sadly we cannot compete at that level~~.

	==Additional Settings==		==Additional Settings==

Malcolm lee: /* About */

2010-09-07T15:15:02Z

About

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:15, 7 September 2010
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	==About==		==About==

	Site ~~Search is the internal search for your site.~~ Search is a way for customers to quickly find products on your site. Some customers prefer to use category navigation and filters to give a subset of products while others have a better idea as to what they are looking for and just want to see that item. You need to make sure your site is as optimized as possible for each group of customers.		Site Search is a way for customers to quickly find products on your site. Some customers prefer to use category navigation and filters to give a subset of products while others have a better idea as to what they are looking for and just want to see that item. You need to make sure your site is as optimized as possible for each group of customers.

	==Settings Overview==		==Settings Overview==