Auto-Suggest

Site Search > Recommendations > Auto-Suggest


The SearchStax Site Search solution’s Auto-Suggest feature enables real-time suggestions while the search user types in keywords.

When the auto-suggest feature is enabled, Site Search builds a Solr index of the keywords that users have typed in as queries. The system prompts the user with words that have leading-character matches to the user’s current input. 

At the same time, the system also performs a “fuzzy” match comparison between the input and previous keywords, testing whether the new input might be misspelled.

The controls on this tab set the number of suggestions to offer and how many characters the user must type before suggestions begin to appear.

Site Search Auto-Suggest screen, showing how to configure automatic search suggestions.

Note the checkbox in the upper left that enables or disables the entire feature.  

Suggestions are based on Search History with the option to manually Add individual search words. The Search History method removes lower Click through searches, and additionally weighs the matches based on their search count so that the more popular search words show up higher in the suggestions.

You can specify how many suggestions to show the user, and how many keystrokes to require before suggestions begin to appear. (One keystroke overloads the system with useless queries. Two is more efficient. Three is even better.)

Note that there is a Search feature that filters the list.

The Add Word and Upload features let you add words that the users might never have thought to try. When you upload a file, it appends words to the previous list. Duplicate entries are ignored.

The Download feature produces only the words that were added manually, not the database.

The Save Draft button persists your changes to the list. The Publish button makes the changes visible to end users.

Questions?

Do not hesitate to contact the SearchStax Support Desk.