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Products :: Search Auto-Complete

aka. AutoSuggest, Search suggest, Suggest as you type, Read-ahead

Description

The Search Auto-Complete module enhances the search experience through suggest as you type and auto-complete functionality built into the search form. As one starts to enter search terms, the module detects a pause in typing and offers a list of suggested searches. One can then easily pick one of the suggestions or continue refining the suggestions by typing in more of the query.

For example, if you type "bass" Auto-Complete might offer suggestions that include "bass fishing" or "bass guitar", and even "sea bass" (note how "bass" is not necessarily the first word). Similarly, if you type in only part of a word, like "prog", Auto-Complete might suggest "programming", "programming languages", "progesterone", or "progressive". You can choose one of the suggestions by scrolling up or down the list with the arrow keys or mouse.

Business Value / Benefits

  • Reduces the chance of misspelled queries by guiding searchers to desired queries and reducing typing
  • Improves the quality and precision of queries through guidance
  • Reduces query noise by offering query selection instead of typing
  • Speeds up the search-experience by reducing the need to type long queries
  • Lets the business influence search choices instead of being passive observer

Integration

The module consists of the back-end and the UI components. The back-end component runs in any servlet container (Tomcat, Jetty, Resin, etc.). The UI element consists of AJAX (JavaScript) that ties to your search form. This JavaScript senses pauses in typing and asks the back-end for suggestions, which it then offers in the UI. The back-end can be fed with suggestion entries from a database, from an existing Lucene or Solr index, from a simple text file, or anything that can print suggestion text to standard output.

Success Metrics

How do you determine if Auto-Complete is a success for you? The following are some of the things you could watch:
  • fewer query misspellings
  • fewer did you mean (DYM) requests and lower usage of DYM suggestions
  • fewer zero hits searches
  • lower number of searches/session metric
  • lower "time on site" metric - people find what they are after faster
  • happier users
  • happier business department

FAQ

Q: What/who determines the suggestions?
A: You do. Suggestions in the form of phrases representing queries to suggest are loaded in the back-end server component and can be changed at run-time.
Q: Can this work with any kind of search solution?
A: Yes, this module is search provider agnostic. It can be used along search powered by FAST ESP, or Endeca, or Vivisimo, or Solr, or ...
Q: What can be customized?
A: The UI look and feel can be completely customized (e.g. font type and color, background color), as can the typing delay, the number of characters required before any suggestions are offered, the number of offered suggestions, and the search request URL.
Q: How can I feed the Auto-Complete back-end?
A: The back-end service can be fed with suggestion entries from a database, from an existing Lucene or Solr index, from a simple text file, or anything that can print data to standard output.
Q: Is Auto-Complete language-dependent?
A: No, Auto-Complete works with suggestions in any language, as can be seen in the demo (English, Spanish, Croatian)
 Try Demo
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