Creating search term associations using synonyms and replacements

In this task, you enhance your search experience by assigning synonyms or replacement terms for searches that are performed in your store.Synonyms increase the scope of search results by adding more search terms to search submissions, and replacement terms modify potential search results by changing search terms from search submissions.

Procedure

  1. Open the Catalogs tool.
  2. From the explorer tree, select Search Term Associations.
  3. Create your search term associations.
    • To create synonyms:
      1. Click the Synonyms tab. The synonym list is displayed.
      2. Click New New to create a synonyms row.
      3. Enter your synonyms in the row, according to the following specification:
        Synonyms
        The search term synonyms. Separate synonyms with a comma.
        Note: Do not use special characters, such as "' , . = * # @ & % ? ; $ in the synonym definition. You may use their escaped versions, such as \*,~,\?,'',"",.*\\.*,.*/.*,.*\|.*. For more information, see ../../search/refs/ES_STAexpansion.html.
    • To create replacement terms:
      1. Click the Replacements tab. The replacements list is displayed.
      2. Click New New to create a replacements row.
      3. Enter your replacement terms in the row, according to the following specification:
        Search Term
        The submitted search term.
        Replacement Type
        The search action that is performed for the replacement terms. The following replacement types are available:
        Also search for
        The resulting search includes both the submitted search term and the replacement terms.
        Instead search for
        The resulting search includes only the replacement terms.
        Replacement Terms
        The terms that replace the submitted search term, separated by commas.
  4. Click Save; then click Close.
  5. Validate your work by using Store Preview and your site search to ensure that the changes have been applied and are correct.