Providing an intuitive and efficient search experience for your customers is essential for any eCommerce business. An optimized site search not only enhances user satisfaction but also boosts conversions and increases sales.
In this article, we’ll cover the techniques and strategies for site search optimization in your online store, so your customers find what they’re looking for quickly and easily. Search is also one of the highest-intent moments in the shopper journey: Forrester Research found that up to 30% of eCommerce visitors go straight to the search bar when they land on a site, rather than browsing categories first.
How to Optimize Search Results in Your Online Store: 19 Site Search Best Practices
Let’s go through 19 site search best practices that will help you improve your onsite search and the overall shopping experience for your customers.
1. Highlight Your Search Bar
The search bar is the gateway to your store’s products. Make it prominent and easily visible on your website. A strategically placed search bar encourages users to utilize it, enhancing their browsing experience, and optimizing your onsite search.
2. Add an AI Assistant for Conversational Search
A search box still asks the shopper to guess the right words. An AI assistant lets them ask the way they’d ask a store associate, for example “a gift for someone who hikes, under $50,” and get a conversational answer with matched products instead of a plain keyword match. It’s an extension of the search bar rather than a separate feature, and it’s where search is heading as shoppers get used to asking assistants questions instead of typing fragments.
Data point: Eureka Kids saw a 24% conversion rate increase and an extra €12 in average order value after adding an AI-powered shopping assistant alongside search.
3. Search Suggestions
As users type their query into the search bar, the magic of search suggestions comes into play. Providing real-time suggestions based on popular search queries essentially allows your internal search engine to complete the customer’s thought.
Imagine a user begins typing “running shoes” and, before they even finish typing, a dropdown menu appears with options like “men’s running shoes,” “women’s running shoes,” and “trail running shoes.” This site search engine feature anticipates user needs, guiding them toward relevant products faster than they can formulate their complete query.
4. Autocomplete
Autocomplete takes the concept of search suggestions a step further. As users start typing, the ecommerce search bar auto-fills with relevant product names, eliminating the need to type the entire query.
For instance, if a customer is looking for cushions, the search bar would automatically complete the word and display relevant results after the user types the first two letters, saving valuable seconds and ensuring a seamless search experience.
Data point: Autocomplete is now offered on 80% of eCommerce sites, up from 72% a decade ago, but only 19% of those implementations get every detail right (font size, keyboard navigation, result grouping, and so on). Having autocomplete isn’t enough on its own; it has to be configured well.
5. Search Filters
Search filters are the backbone of an organized online store. Enabling users to refine their search results based on categories, price ranges, sizes, colors, and other relevant filters empowers them to pinpoint exactly what they’re looking for.
Imagine a shopper on a furniture website who wants to find a 3-seat turquoise sofa for less than $2,000. Filters in a site search transform a potentially overwhelming array of choices into a tailored selection, streamlining the decision-making process.
Data point: Baymard Institute’s large-scale usability study found that only 16% of major eCommerce sites offered a genuinely good filtering experience. Filtering has improved since that study, but it’s still one of the most common gaps found in search and navigation audits.
6. Synonyms and Typos
Language is diverse and often subjective. Customers might use different words or make typographical errors while searching. Recognizing common synonyms and typos ensures that your website’s search engine interprets these variations accurately.
For instance, if a customer searches for “phone” instead of “smartphone”, the search results will still display the relevant products, preventing frustration and ensuring customer satisfaction.
Data point: 60% of eCommerce sites return no results for a synonym-based search, for example when a shopper types “trainers” on a store that only lists the products as “sneakers.” Source: Doofinder platform data, aggregated across 10,000+ stores.
7. Voice Search
With the rise in popularity of voice-activated devices, virtual assistants like Siri and Alexa, and voice-commerce, integrating voice search into your search engine is imperative. Voice search recognizes spoken words and phrases, allowing users to interact with your website conversationally.
Users can simply ask, “Find me black leather boots in size 9,” and the site search engine will deliver precise results. This hands-free approach not only enhances convenience but also caters to a broader audience, including those with disabilities.
8. Visual Search
In the age of smartphones and visual-oriented social media platforms, visual search technology has emerged as a game-changer. This innovative feature enables users to search for products using images.
For instance, a shopper can upload a picture of some running shoes they like, and your website’s search engine will find similar items in your store. Visual search engages users in a unique and interactive way, making the shopping experience more visually stimulating and immersive.
9. Use Semantic Search and Natural Language Understanding
Keyword-only search fails as soon as a shopper’s words don’t match your product titles exactly. Semantic search and natural language processing let your engine understand intent instead of just matching text, so a query like “warm jacket for winter hiking” can surface insulated jackets even if none of those exact words appear in the product name.
Data point: A Klevu benchmark of 78 North American retailers found that three in four delivered zero or irrelevant results for complex, natural-language queries, and fewer than 1 in 10 could understand natural language well enough to return a precise match. Separately, research cited by Baymard Institute found that 15% of eCommerce sites don’t support this kind of non-product, conversational search at all.
Utilize Searchandising Tools
Mastering merchandising inside your onsite search results can meaningfully affect your sales and customer satisfaction. Here’s how to use searchandising tools to create a tailored, compelling shopping experience:
10. Product Boosting
Product boosting is like placing your bestsellers in the store’s prime display window. Strategically promoting specific products in your onsite search results increases their visibility, making them more likely to catch the eye of potential buyers.
For instance, if you have a new product that you want to showcase or a seasonal item, boosting its visibility ensures it doesn’t get lost among other search results, increasing its chances of being purchased.
11. Recommendations
Intelligent recommendation algorithms analyze customer behavior and preferences to suggest related or complementary products. For instance, if a customer is looking at vacuums, a recommendation algorithm might suggest similar types of vacuums or vacuum accesories.
Encouraging upselling and cross-selling not only increases the average order value, but also enhances the customer’s shopping experience by anticipating their needs.
Data point: A Salesforce study found that shopping sessions where a customer clicked a product recommendation made up just 7% of total site traffic, but generated 24% of orders and 26% of revenue.
12. Personalize Search Results
The same query typed by two different shoppers doesn’t have to return results in the same order. Factoring in a shopper’s past purchases, browsing history, or location into how results are ranked (while still keeping a manual override for merchandising) increases relevance without giving up control.
Data point: McKinsey’s personalization research puts the typical revenue lift from effective personalization at 10 to 15%, with results ranging from 5 to 25% depending on the sector and how well it’s executed.
13. Banners
Banners are virtual billboards within your search engine’s results. Use them strategically to highlight ongoing sales promotions, brands, or new arrivals. A well-designed banner catches the user’s attention, conveying essential information at a glance.
For example, if there’s a site-wide discount or a limited-time offer on specific products, a banner can convey this information directly in the search results, enticing users to explore further and make a purchase.
14. Add to Cart Button
Allowing users to add products to their cart directly from an add to cart button on the search results page can streamline the purchasing process in your online store. This eliminates additional steps, such as navigating to the product detail page, enhancing user convenience.
When users find what they want with just one click, it reduces friction in the buying journey, increasing the likelihood of conversion.
15. Discount Tags
Highlighting products on sale with a visible discount tag is a powerful psychological trigger. Price-sensitive customers are immediately drawn to items on sale, making them more likely to make a purchase.
The visual cue of a discounted price creates a sense of urgency and value, prompting customers to act swiftly before the offer expires.
16. Out of Stock Tags
Transparency is key in eCommerce. If a product is out of stock, clearly indicate it to manage customer expectations and prevent frustration. There’s nothing more frustrating for a customer than discovering a desired item is unavailable only after investing time in searching for it.
Displaying an “Out of Stock” tags not only saves your customers’ time, but also build trust with upfront information about product availability.
Leverage Site Search Data: Optimizing Your Website Effectively
Businesses can gain real insight into user behavior, preferences, and pain points with a search analytics tool. Site search data can be used to optimize a website in several concrete ways, and here are three you can turn into ongoing strategies:
17. Popular Searched Terms
One of the goldmines of site search data is the list of frequently searched terms. Businesses can gain deep insights into customer interests and preferences when analyzing these search terms. For instance, if “running shoes” consistently emerges as a top search term, it’s a clear signal that this product category is in high demand.
Armed with this knowledge, businesses can optimize their product listing pages, ensuring that popular items are showcased prominently. Moreover, marketing strategies can be tailored to highlight these sought-after products, creating targeted campaigns that align perfectly with customer interests.
18. Zero Results Pages
When users encounter a no results page for their search queries, it’s a red flag indicating potential gaps in your product inventory or content. Investigate these instances meticulously. Are customers searching for products you don’t carry? Are they using terminology not present in your product descriptions?
Understanding these gaps allows you to make informed decisions. You might choose to expand your product range, update product descriptions to include relevant keywords, or even introduce new categories to cater to unmet customer needs.
Data point: Across 10,000+ stores, our data puts the industry average zero-results rate at around 15%, meaning roughly one in seven searches turns up nothing. On stores running a properly configured search engine with synonym and typo handling like Doofinder’s, that rate falls below 1%.
19. Click-Through Rate (CTR)
Monitoring the Click-Through Rate (CTR) provides a direct measure of the effectiveness of your onsite search results. A high CTR indicates that users are finding relevant products and are encouraged to explore further. On the other hand, a low CTR suggests potential issues, such as irrelevant results or poor product visibility.
Dive deeper into searches with low CTR to identify patterns. Are certain products consistently overlooked? Is the product information insufficient or misleading? After analyzing your store’s data, you can tweak your eCommerce search algorithm, refine product descriptions, or optimize image displays to enhance user experience and boost CTR.
Score Your Own Site Search Setup
Use the self-audit below to see which of these your store already has in place and which ones to prioritize next.
Site Search Optimization Maturity Assessment
How does your search setup score?
Check off what’s already live on your store. Your score updates as you go, and you’ll get a short list of what to fix next based on what’s still unchecked.
Search basics
The fundamentals shoppers expect before anything else.
Understanding intent
Whether search understands what a shopper means, not just what they typed.
Merchandising in results
Turning the results page into a place that actively sells.
Data and measurement
Whether you’re actually watching what search is telling you.
Implement an eCommerce Search Bar Today!
Now that we’ve gone through site search best practices and tips for site search optimization, you probably want to find the best search engine for your website.
With Doofinder, you can put every practice in this guide into place, from intuitive search bar placement to newer technologies like voice search, visual search, and semantic search. Doofinder’s own data across 10,000+ stores backs this up directly: stores that move from default, platform-native search to a configured search engine see their zero-results rate drop from an industry average of 15% to under 1%.
Don’t just meet customer expectations. Exceed them. Turn your search engine into a user-friendly, conversion-boosting platform with Doofinder today. Try it for free for 15 days to see the results for youself.
