According to eConsultancy, about 30% of eCommerce visitors are using the internal site search when looking for a particular product. Also, onsite searchers are twice as likely to convert in comparison to those who are just browsing site pages.
Suffice it to say, the onsite search box can be an effective means of boosting website conversion rate.
Being one of the most popular eCommerce solutions, Magento 1, nevertheless, couldn’t boast by having outstanding out-of-the-box search capabilities. The first version of the platform may deliver results that are far from being precise and relevant. Also, it has issues with supporting partial phrase match, recognizing spelling errors, typos, plural forms, etc.
But how does Magento 2 handle onsite searches? Is it better than its predecessor?
Let’s run some simple search tests and figure out how the platform deals with:
- simple search queries
- complex search queries
- misspells and typos
- special characters
- adding autocomplete results
- adding results from category, CMS, blog pages
Also, in this post, we are going to check Magento 2 search extension that can enhance the default platform’s functionality.
Simple/ General Search Queries
This is the most popular type of search requests. Site visitors may be looking for a particular products (e.g. smartwatch) product groups or categories (e.g. smartwatches, tablets), a particular product brand (e.g. iPhone, MacBook).
I’ve tested the default Magento 2 site search with “watch” as a search term. These are my results:
As you can see, the system has delivered quite relevant results. All products that contain the word ’watch’ in the name are listed first. Those that have this search term somewhere in the description come closer to the end of the list.
Also, you’ll get rather relevant results if you search by Brand. Have a look.
The only drawback here is that when handling this type of queries Magento 2 is unable to deal with plurals.
I’ve added the ending ‘-es’ to the search word, and… the system returned no results at all.
Complex Search Queries
Let’s raise the bar and try to find a product with certain features or characteristics. For example ‘black women tank’. This is what I’ve got.
Hmm…although the system has included the products that somehow correspond to the 
main keyword in the query (‘tank’), it didn’t go to the specifics of the search phrase, and didn’t pick up the exact products with those specified characteristics.
That happened because Magento 2 delivers broad match results by default, and there’s no way to switch to the exact or phrase match search.
Let’s make the task more completed and shuffle words in a search query. For instance, let’s see what we’ll get for ‘running shorts’ and ‘shorts for running’.
Although not all the results I’ve got now are relevant to the entered query, the system returned similar lists of products, regardless of how I’ve mixed the words inside of the search phrase.
Misspells & Typos
Alas, but Magento 2 is incapable of correcting mistakes we all can make while typing.
I’ve tried to misspell the word ‘watch’: ’wattch’/‘wathc’, and got no results at all.
Also, with the default search functionality, the platform doesn’t provide alternatives for misspelled or mistyped words. So you won’t get any suggestions for incorrectly specified search words.
Special Characters
It may often happen that visitors may be searching for something that contains special characters like apostrophes, double quotes, hyphens, etc. For example, ‘men’s shorts’, ’hand-knitted gloves’, etc.
The good news is that whether you enter a simple or a compound search query with an apostrophe or a hyphen, the chances that you’ll get relevant results are pretty high (although some results on the list may still surprise you due to the broad match search method).
The bad news is that the system still doesn’t understand some special characters. For instance, if you enter a word with double quotes (e.g. Watch Strap 7”), there’s no chance you get results.
Adding Autocomplete Results
This part of the search functionality hasn’t got any improvements in the new version of the platform.
Basically, out-of-the-bos search autocomplete works the same way it does in the previous version of Magento. So, if you’ve used certain site search before, you’ll be suggested them again in your future searches.
Adding results from category, CMS, blog pages
Often, site visitors go beyond product search and want to find something about your refund policy, loyalty program or read some articles from your blog.
Unfortunately, with Magento 2 shoppers will have to manually find all that stuff, as the default search functionality doesn’t scan any category, CMS or blog pages.
Tools to Improve Magento 2 Search
Although Magento 2 default search is far from being perfect, it’s still way better than out-of-the-box search tools of the previous version.
Also, some Magento development companies offer a wide selection of free and paid 3d party tools that can significantly extend the default search functionality.
These are:
Search Autocomplete by MageWorx – adds a convenient search autocomplete pop-up with relevant products, product descriptions and a ‘BUY’ button.
Site Search by Celebros – understands the customers’ shopping intents, reads any type of queries and personalized search terms.
Advanced Category Search by Nekko – enhances your store with the possibility to find any product available by entering its category in the search field.
Have you already tested Magento 2 search or tried any 3d party search solutions?
Please share your opinion in the comments section below.
Bio
Vitaly Gonkov is a Chief Marketing Officer at MageWorx – one of the leading developers of plugins for Magento 2 extension Vitaly has been actively involved with online marketing since 2010. He has a broad range of expertise that spans many different types of eCommerce strategies and techniques. He is passionate about blogging, social networking and enjoys the challenges presented by the dynamic industry.