Boost Your Search Results: Mastering Sitecore Search Optimization

👋Introduction

In today's digital landscape, most of the web properties are content driven and sharing the useful information for the end-users. The end-user's will visit / return back to your web properties if you are providing an exceptional search experience, which is crucial for driving user engagement and conversion.

The Sitecore, a leading digital experience platform, offers composable SaaS product Sitecore Search, which provides robust search capabilities and helps organizations to implement search capabilities which are optimized to ensure users find the most relevant content quickly.

One key feature that enhances search performance is search results boosting. In this article, we'll delve into the concept of search results boosting in Sitecore Search and explore how to leverage it for improved search outcomes. 🔝

🚀What is Search Results Boosting?

Search results boosting is a technique which used to prioritize specific search results over others, ensuring that the most relevant and valuable content appears at the top of the search results list. By boosting search results, organizations can:

• Increase the visibility of high-priority content

• Improve the relevance of search results

• Enhance user experience and engagement

Sitecore Search Boosting is particularly valuable when you need to highlight promotional content, prioritize certain pages over others, or ensure that your users are seeing the most relevant information based on their search intent. 🔝

🛠Implementation Steps

1. Configure Widget Variation

You have to select the widget where you wanted to apply the boosting, in our case we selected the Sitecore Search Results widget.

Every widget comes with default variation and it's always good to create different variations of widget when you are planning for personalization or experience for the end-user's. 🔝

2. Create Rule

After creation of widget variation, we have to create the Rule which have required conditions / settings / context need to be applied to provide the personalize experience.

You need to create a new widget variation rule or edit an existing one.

Create the Boost Rule

1. Create the Boost Rule based on attribute

You can boost the results based on the filter for an attribute (attribute's from the indexed document) and its value. 🔝

Based on your initial setup, list of attributes would be available to you for selection and you can apply condition's (compare) IS or IS NOT:

You can add many rules based on your needs.

The purpose of these rules is to make sure that when Sitecore Search finds any of the indexed documents (as shown in the screenshot), those documents are given priority in the search results. However, you need to create space for your boosted indexed document in the Slots section so it can be placed there. 🔝

2. Create the Boost Rule based on Drag & drop

You can also boost the search results by dragging items from the list of indexed items. When Sitecore Search finds any of these dragged documents (as shown in the screenshot), those documents are given priority in the search results. 🔝

Assign the Slot

If you only create the Boost Rules to boost the results then it wouldn't work because Sitecore Search would be not knowing what to do (Blacklist, boost, pin, or bury strategy) with this boosted results. 🔝

Once you created the Sitecore Search Boost Rules, you have to create space for your boosted indexed document in the slot so that it can land there (in the assigned slots).

If you are using the boost attribute and think you can boost results based on an individual attribute and its value, it's not possible.

To assign boosting to a slot, go to the Slots tab. To apply a Boost rule to a specific slot, click on the puzzle piece (🧩) icon and select the slot where you want to display the boosted index document and change it to Boost. You can boost as many slots as you want. 🔝

By doing this, you can make sure that your boost rule is applied to that specific slot and that the boosted indexed article is shown appropriately.

Apply Context

When a search term is entered into one of its widgets, Sitecore Search returns list of results. Widget variation rules allow you to retrieve search results according to user-defined or context-driven queries. 🔝

With the help of Context settings, you can narrow down or decide when a rule should be applied. If attributes do not match, the defined widget rules will not be applied to the widget.

• Site context defines where in the site a visitor must be for the rule to take effect.

• Visitor context defines visitors to whom the rule applies.

Source: Sitecore ➡ Optimizing search experiences with rules

Apply Settings

In Sitecore Search widget variation, you will also find settings that influence the search results. 🔝

🎯Considerations for Search Results Boosting in Sitecore Search

Boosting search results can improve content relevance, but it's important to follow best practices or consider some suggestions to avoid problems like biased search results or a bad user experience.

1. Understand Your Audience: Analyze user behavior and preferences to create effective boosting rules for better search results.

2. Use Relevant Keywords: Incorporate relevant keywords in your boosting rules to ensure accurate search results.

3. Monitor and Refine: Continuously monitor search performance and refine boosting rules for the best results.

4. If you want certain indexed items to show up in a specific position or FEATURED item should display in the search results at specific position, Boost Rules won't work. You need to use the PIN indexed document for that slot.

5. Moreover, boosting creates space for boosted items in the boost slots but does not guarantee that any specific item will occupy that slot. Any item that has been boosted in accordance with the rules and context qualifies as the boosted item.

6. The following order followed by the boost rule hierarchy:
   Blacklist > Pin > Bury > Boost. 🔝

💡Conclusion

Search results boosting is a powerful feature in Sitecore Search that can significantly enhance search performance and user experience. By understanding how to leverage boosting rules and indexing settings, organizations can prioritize high-priority content and deliver more relevant search results. Remember to follow best practices and continuously monitor and refine your boosting strategy for optimal outcomes.

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