Search results while your customer is still typing
Instant Search runs a fresh query on every keystroke, understands typos and synonyms and lets visitors filter on your own attributes. So they find the right product, even when they spell it differently than you do.
What is instant search?
Instant search (also called site search or internal search) is a search feature that runs a new query on every keystroke. Type "beatles" and the engine already searches at "b", "be" and "bea", with the results narrowing as you type. That is called prefix search: no enter key or page reload is needed to find something. Afosto Instant Search builds three things around it:
- Typo tolerance: the prefix Levenshtein algorithm recognises words that resemble the search term, so a misspelled query still returns the right product
- Filters from your own data: any attribute from your source, such as brand, colour or category, can be offered as a filter so visitors refine the results
- Multiple sources, one search field: a single engine searches one or more data sources at once, for example your product catalogue and your knowledge base
Instant search matches on the words behind your products, not only on their exact spelling, which is exactly where a plain search field tends to lose people.
Where a literal search field loses visitors
Many standard search fields only match the literal text of your product names. If a visitor searches for something slightly different from what you call your products, your range looks empty. This is how Instant Search solves the most common misses:
| Onderdeel | Literal search field | Afosto Instant Search |
|---|---|---|
| Typo, such as "swaeter" | Often zero results | Typo tolerance still finds "sweater" |
| Own wording, such as "denims" | Misses products called "jeans" | Two-way synonym links both words |
| Half a word, such as "swea" | Waits for a full term | Prefix search shows results per keystroke |
| Refining within results | Rarely filters | Filters on any attribute from your source |
Exactly how a standard search field works differs per platform; the left column describes a search field that only matches literal text.
How it works
From product data to a search bar that thinks along
Instant Search is a module you feed with your own data. You then set the search logic through the admin environment and the app, without code. This is the route from source to a live search feature.
- Step 1
Connect your data as a source
Add a data source in the admin environment: a CSV file or a CSV feed on a fixed URL, for example published from Google Sheets. Then create an engine and choose which sources it searches, for example per language or per part of your site.
- Step 2
Decide what counts
Drag attributes between searchable and non-searchable and move the most important ones to the top: that order sets their weight. Six built-in ranking rules sort on words, typos, proximity, attribute, sorting and exactness. Adding your own rules is possible too.
- Step 3
Capture how people speak
Teach the engine how your customers talk. A two-way synonym makes "shoe" and "sneaker" interchangeable, a one-way synonym routes "phone" to "iphone" without the reverse. Stopwords like "the" and "of" are ignored, which keeps the results relevant and fast.
- Step 4
Test and go live
Test your search settings in the built-in web interface, before a front end is even involved. Happy with it? Connect the search bar in your webshop through the REST or GraphQL API, with matched terms highlighted in the results.
Every setting, from sources to synonyms, is managed in the web interface. Only building the search bar into your own shop is a one-off piece of front-end work.
Instant Search in numbers
Fast for your customer, adjustable for you
Answers within 50 milliseconds, built for search as you type
Built-in ranking rules, extended with your own rules
Types of synonyms: one-way and two-way
Search field for products, pages and knowledge base together
One engine per language, site or knowledge base
You create as many engines as you need and connect the sources that belong to each one. That way your Dutch shop gets a different search than your German one, and your help desk searches only knowledge base articles:
Instant Search is a module of the Afosto platform, alongside order management and the point of sale. But because a source is simply a CSV file or feed, the engine also works on its own, fed from any system that can export CSV.
Its own engine per language or site section
each engine searches its own combination of sources, with its own settings
Search terms highlighted in the results
visitors see straight away why a result matches
Click tracking on search results
the search front end records which results get clicked
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about the search feature
The questions webshop owners ask us most often about Instant Search.
What is instant search?
Instant search is a search feature that runs a new query on every keystroke. Type "beatles" and it already searches at "b", "be" and "bea", with the results narrowing as you type. This works through prefix search: the engine matches words that start with what has been typed so far, without a visitor having to press enter.
How fast is Afosto Instant Search?
The engine is designed to answer within 50 milliseconds. That speed is needed because a new query runs on every keystroke: only then does search as you type feel fluid. Stopwords and non-searchable attributes help with this, because searching less data means faster results.
What happens when a customer makes a typo?
Instant Search uses the prefix Levenshtein algorithm to recognise words that resemble the search term, for example with a replaced or missing letter. So a query with a spelling mistake still returns results. In the ranking, typos do count: documents with fewer typos rank higher.
How do my products get into the engine?
You add a data source in the admin environment: a CSV file you upload or a CSV feed on a fixed URL, for example published from Google Sheets. You map the columns to fields, including a unique reference per product. Then you connect the source to an engine and you can search.
Can I decide the order of search results myself?
Yes. Instant Search ranks with six built-in rules: words, typo, proximity, attribute, sorting and exactness. You decide the order of those rules yourself and you can add your own ranking rules. On top of that you weight attributes: the higher an attribute sits in the list of searchable fields, the more heavily it counts.
Do I need a developer for Instant Search?
For management, no: sources, engines, synonyms, stopwords, filters, attributes and ranking rules are all set through the web interface. Testing happens there too, with the built-in search page. Only building the search bar into your own webshop is a one-off piece of front-end work, through the REST or GraphQL API.
Try your own range in Instant Search
Create a free account, add a CSV of your products as a source and test in the web interface how search as you type feels on your data. Or book a demo and we will set up the first engine together.