Addressing poor search resultsA CX Manager's Blueprint to Commerce Studio

Table of Contents

Block irrelevant or underperforming products
Bury less relevant products

Improving search performance involves identifying and addressing issues that result in poor search experiences for customers. This article outlines strategies Customer Experience Managers can use in Commerce Studio to refine search results and ensure they meet customer expectations.

Customer Experience Managers can analyze feedback and search data to identify irrelevant or underperforming products appearing in results. Techniques such as blocking irrelevant products or demoting and burying poorly performing or less relevant items can improve the quality of search results, aligning them more closely with user intent.

By systematically addressing poor search results, Customer Experience Managers can create a more reliable and satisfying search experience, driving engagement and improving overall site performance.

Block irrelevant or underperforming products

Occasionaly, you may want to prevent products from appearing in the search results. For example, create block rules if you have off-season merchandise or out-of-stock items in your inventory. Blocking irrelevant or unavailable items can help improve search relevance for users.

In the Visual Editor, navigate to the item or items you want to block.
Click the + Add button to add a rule, or select the item checkboxes and then click Add Rule.
Select Block from the list of actions.
This creates an unpublished rule. Go to the Ranking Rules page to publish it.

Test and make sure the blocked items don’t appear in the search results. If too many products are blocked, refine the blocking rules to ensure customers still see enough variety. Alternatively, implement dynamic blocking rules that only trigger under certain conditions, such as dates or queries.

Bury less relevant products

To provide more relevant search results for customers, you create rules to bury irrelevant or low-relevance products in the search results.

In the Visual Editor, navigate to the item or items you want to bury.
Click the + Add button to add a rule, or select the item checkboxes and then click Add Rule.
Select Bury from the list of actions.
This creates an unpublished rule. Go to the Ranking Rules page to publish it.