How to Improve Shopify Search with Search & Discovery

When a shopper types into your search box, they are telling you what they want to buy. If the results miss, the page gives them nothing to buy.

The good news: if you sell on Shopify, you already have a free tool to fix much of this — the Shopify Search & Discovery app. This guide shows you how to use it to improve Shopify search, in the order that pays off fastest. Plan about 30 minutes for the first round.

What Shopify search already does for you

Before you change anything, it helps to know what works out of the box. According to Shopify's help pages, the built-in search:

• reads meaning, not only words — Shopify says "semantic understanding is included in online store search" (Modify search);
• forgives typos — a missing, extra, swapped or wrong letter still finds the product (Search behavior);
• searches your product details — title, description, product type, tags, vendor, variant title and SKU.

So you do not need to fight every typo by hand. Your job is to close the gaps that are specific to your store: your words, your products, your shoppers.

Install the free Search & Discovery app from the Shopify App Store if you have not yet. Shopify notes that its search needs Shopify Network Intelligence to be turned on in your privacy settings.

Step 1: Find the searches that let shoppers down

Do not guess. Start with what your shoppers actually typed.

In the Search & Discovery app, open the analytics and look at two reports (Search & Discovery analytics):

• Searches with no results — the shopper typed something and saw nothing.
• Searches with no clicks — the shopper saw products but clicked none of them. Often the results were the wrong products.

The app shows the last 30 days. For a longer period, go to Analytics > Reports and open "Top online store searches with no results". That report can lag by up to 72 hours.

Go through the list and put each search into one of three groups:

• Products you do not sell. Nothing to fix today. If the same word keeps coming back, it may be a product worth adding.
• Your products under other words. The shopper types "sneakers", your titles say "trainers". Steps 2 and 3 fix these.
• Searches no setting can fix. A budget ("tent under 200"), the name of a product you no longer stock, or a language your catalog is not written in. Keep these for the last section.

Step 2: Teach search your shoppers' words with synonyms

A synonym group tells Shopify that several words mean the same thing. Create one group for each set of words from your list: "sneakers, trainers, running shoes", or "hoodie, sweatshirt".

Keep each group tight. Put in only words a shopper would really use for the same product. A group that is too broad pulls the wrong products into the results, and then "Searches with no clicks" goes up instead of down.

This is the cheapest fix on this list: a few minutes per group, and no code.

Step 3: Add the filters shoppers reach for

Filters help shoppers narrow a long list fast. In the app, open Filters, click Add filterand choose a source (Filters). You can filter by availability, category, price, product type, tags and vendor, and by your own product options and metafields, such as size or color.

Add the filters that match how your shoppers decide: price and size for clothing, capacity for backpacks, number of people for tents. Your store can have up to 25 filters, but a short list that shoppers actually use beats a long one.

Step 4: Boost the products you want found first

A product boost moves chosen products up for chosen search terms. In the app, go to Search > Product boosts and click Create product boost. Each boost takes up to 10 search terms.

Use boosts with care. They are good for a best seller, new stock or a seasonal product. If you boost everything, nothing stands out, and shoppers stop trusting the order.

Step 5: Show related and complementary products

Recommendations help the shopper who found the product but not the full set. In the app, open Product recommendations and click Add recommendations(Recommendations):

• Related products are similar to the one the shopper is looking at.
• Complementary products are often bought with it: a rain cover with a backpack, a stove with a tent.

Step 6: Check again in two weeks

Search data needs time. After two weeks, open the same two reports and compare. Words you fixed with synonyms should be gone from the no-results list. New words will appear. Fix them the same way, and make it a habit: a short check every month keeps the list small.

Quick reference: what to fix, and how

When the app is not enough

Some searches keep coming back however well you tune the app. They have one thing in common: the shopper asks for something the words alone do not say.

• A budget or a condition. "Tent under 200" or "down jacket in stock". A price filter helps a shopper who uses it, but a shopper who typed a budget expects the search to use it.
• A product you no longer stock. A shopper types its exact name to see if it is back. They should see it, and see that it is sold out, not a list of other products.
• Another language. Your catalog is in English, your shopper searches in Dutch or French. If you sell in several countries, translate your catalog first, for example with Shopify's Translate & Adapt app. Shopify searches the translated titles and descriptions when the shopper browses that language.

If these searches are a large part of your report, an AI search app is worth a test. Look for one that keeps what Shopify does well, and test it on the searches from your own report before you pay.

We build one: AppIn Search for Shopify. It takes over the search window that opens from your theme's search field, and it reads typos, descriptions, a budget in the query and other languages. Your /search results page, your Search & Discovery filters and your product recommendations stay Shopify's. It starts free with 200 searches a month.