Search relevancy and merchandising features in the Management Center

Business users can manage product information and search term associations to influence search relevancy in the storefront. Business users can manage search rules, analyze search results, and filter the catalog to influence search merchandising in the storefront.

Detailed product information

Better-selling products typically tend to show up at the beginning of search results. Well-chosen and clear product descriptions increase your product's visibility so that they appear earlier in search results.

The Product Manager can ensure that detailed product information is entered into the store catalog. This can be done by providing as much information as possible, by completing as many fields as possible, while reducing redundancy.

For more information, see Example: Improving search results on your site using detailed product information.

Search term associations in the Catalogs tool

The Product Manager is responsible for creating and managing search term associations. Search term associations include synonyms and search term replacements, and linking search terms with landing pages.

For more information, see Working with search term associations.

Site search statistics in the Catalogs tool

By reviewing site search statistics, you learn what customers are intending to find on your web site when they enter keywords in the search field. You can then make targeted improvements to optimize your site search, improve your site navigation, and ultimately increase conversions. Management Center provides site search statistics in two reports: the Top Search Hits report and the Top Search Misses report.

For more information, see Managing site search statistics.

Search rules in the Marketing tool

Search rules are managed by Marketing Managers and are created by using the Search Rule Builder. They are used when customers search the storefront to deliver customized search results and ordering. When a customer views search results, the search rule determines how search results are listed. For example, targeting different products in search results by changing the order of the search results, adding or replacing search criteria, or specifying the top search results.

For more information, see Managing search rules.

Personalization in the Catalog Filter and Pricing tool

Catalog filtering with WebSphere Commerce Search provides effective personalization options:
  • It can be used as a rule-based view created against categories, products, attributes of a product, or properties of a product.
  • When applied to a contract, shoppers entering the storefront with a contract are presented with a personalized view of the catalog.
  • Global filtering can remove items from the storefront based on certain global rules, such as inventory level, to avoid displaying out-of-stock or low in-stock inventory.

For more information, see Catalog Filter and Pricing tool.