Optimize the search box for your e-commerce business

Want to know how you can optimize the search box for your e-commerce business? Here is a list of the top 10 ways to increase search optimization:

1. A box is a box, right?

It’s easy to think that. In fact, the size, color, positioning, design and wording of your search box can all make a difference to the way it’s used.

It should be big enough to accommodate the answers to most queries on your site, so that users can see different products that might start with the same letters. Position the box in a prominent place towards the top of the page, and consider giving the border a different color to make it stand out. Putting text inside the box, such as ‘Enter Keyword’ or ‘What are you looking for?’ will make its purpose clear, but make sure the text disappears automatically when people start typing.

2. Favor search over navigation on mobile

Experts have different opinions as to whether search or navigation is more popular on desktops. But on mobiles and tablets, search is the clear winner. This is simply down to space: it’s much easier to enter text into a box than to negotiate your way around complex drop-down menus.

3. Use filters

This vital feature enables your customers to quickly narrow down their searches. Depending on the nature of your stock, filters could include:

• Price range
  
• Size
  
• Brand
  
• Type
  
• Color 
  
• Average customer rating
  

4. Use autocomplete for site search 

Sometimes called autosuggest or type-ahead, this is another must-have feature to improve your customers’ search experience. 

As users type, suitable products are suggested. Smart versions of autocomplete will analyze previous search data to suggest the most likely products first.

As many people are unsure of how certain words are spelled, you should ensure your autocomplete system can determine what people actually mean. Insisting that the customer learns to spell ‘sandals’ correctly is not an option, so you should plan for variations such as sandels, sandles, sandalls, sanderls … you get the picture.