How to Make a Smart WooCommerce Product Search (2023 Guide)
Having a fast and intelligent product search is crucial for the success of any ecommerce store. It‘s how many of your customers will attempt to find products they‘re interested in. The easier it is for them to locate relevant items, the more likely they are to make a purchase.
Unfortunately, the default WooCommerce product search leaves a lot to be desired. Out of the box, it only searches product titles, ignoring other important product data like attributes, categories, tags, and descriptions. This limits its ability to return the most relevant results to customers.
The good news is that with the right tools and configuration, you can transform the basic WooCommerce search into a powerful, smart search engine that drives conversions and sales. Here are the top ways to set up an intelligent WooCommerce product search for your store in 2023.
- Use a dedicated WooCommerce search plugin
The first step to a smarter product search is installing a dedicated WooCommerce search extension. Some top options include:
- SearchWP
- FiboSearch
- Jetpack Search
- WooCommerce Product Search
- Relevanssi
These plugins replace the default WooCommerce search with a more capable solution. They provide features like searching across all product data, typo tolerance, lucene search algorithm, easy customization of search behavior, and more.
We‘ll use SearchWP for this tutorial, but the basic principles apply to other solutions as well.
- Customize search to include all product data
Out of the box, WooCommerce search only looks at product titles. To make it more useful, you need to expand it to include other product data like:
- SKU
- Categories and tags
- Attributes (e.g. color, size)
- Short and long description
- Reviews
In SearchWP, go to the custom search engine configuration. Under Content, you can check which product data to include.
Specific plugin steps.
By searching all this metadata, the search engine has more information to match against queries, returning more relevant products.
- Optimize your product data for search
For the search to return the most relevant products, your product data itself needs to be optimized. Some tips:
- Write clear, descriptive titles with target keywords and common synonyms
- Utilize categories and tags to group products by type or theme
- Fill out all relevant product attributes with accurate values
- Write compelling descriptions that include likely search queries
- Add keywords to alt text for product images
The better your product data, the better your search results.
- Add filters and faceted search
Filters and faceted search allow customers to refine search results by criteria like price, rating, attributes, tags, etc. Someone searching for "blue dress" can drill down to only see blue dresses under $100 with 4 star and above ratings.
Specific steps for enabling product filters in your chosen search plugin or theme.
- Provide live search suggestions
Live search or autocomplete suggestions appear instantly as the user types their query. This helps them find what they need faster and also provides valuable query data you can use to optimize your search.
How to configure live search in your chosen plugin. Additional plugins that can help with this like Algolia, Ajax Search, etc.
- Use visual search results
A search results page full of text isn‘t very engaging. Improve it by displaying key product info like:
- Featured image
- Price
- Review rating and count
- Stock status
- Relevant attributes like size or color
- Quick view or add to cart button
This allows customers to find the right product without visiting individual product pages.
Steps to customize WooCommerce search results template to show this data.
- Handle synonyms, misspellings and stemming
Your customers won‘t always search for products using the exact terms in your catalog. A smart search should accommodate this by:
- Recognizing synonyms – e.g. "couch" and "sofa"
- Correcting common misspellings and typos
- Using stemming to match different word forms – e.g. "running" and "run"
Plugins like SearchWP and FiboSearch can handle this automatically using NLP algorithms. You can also manually define synonym lists.
- Analyze and optimize based on search data
Your WooCommerce search can be a valuable source of customer insight. Analyze data on frequently searched queries, queries with low results, searches with no results, etc.
This can inform optimizations to your product pages, catalog organization and attribute tags. You can also identify content gaps and opportunities for new products.
Instructions for viewing and analyzing search data in Google Analytics, Search Console, and within search plugins.
- SEO benefits of optimized search
In addition to improving UX and conversions, a well-optimized product search can also help your SEO in a few key ways:
- Provides data on what terms customers actually use to find your products vs what you assume
- Allows you to optimize product pages to rank for more relevant organic search queries
- Reduces bounce rate by helping shoppers find what they need faster
- Can be used to identify thin content that needs improvement
- Mobile product search UX
More and more ecommerce traffic comes from mobile devices. Your product search needs to be optimized for these users:
- Easily accessible search bar
- Mobile-friendly search results page
- Filter and sort options
- Large product images and buttons
Test your search thoroughly on mobile devices and make tweaks as needed. A poor mobile search experience will cost you sales.
- Personalized, AI-powered search
The next frontier of ecommerce search is personalized and AI-powered results tailored to each shopper. Based on search behavior, browsing history, and past purchases, stores can dynamically rank products for each individual user.
Plugins are starting to add AI recommendation and personalization features. It‘s an area to keep an eye on to stay ahead of the curve.
- Voice and image search
While less common than text search today, voice and image search for products are rapidly growing, especially on mobile. Younger consumers are embracing these new modes of search.
Optimizing your product search for voice and images now can give you a competitive advantage. This includes using conversational keywords, descriptive alt tags on images, and supporting image uploads in your search bar.
The future of WooCommerce product search
As you can see, there‘s a lot more to a great ecommerce search experience than a simple textbox. By expanding your search to cover all product data, providing filters and suggestions, and analyzing data for continuous improvement, you can create a powerful tool for connecting customers to products and driving sales.
Implementing even a few of these WooCommerce product search best practices can make a big difference for your store. Pick one or two to get started with, test and iterate. Before long, you‘ll have a smart product search that delights both customers and your bottom line.
