Search

Many shoppers do not want to browse. They know what they are after and head straight for the search box. Backline puts search in easy reach and shows results in a clean, fast layout, so search often becomes one of your best-converting paths.

Search works out of the box

Shopify gives your store built-in search that covers your products, blog posts, and pages. It includes two things that make a real difference, both on by default:

• Predictive search: suggestions appear as a shopper types, before they even press enter. It turns a vague idea into a product in a couple of keystrokes.
• Typo tolerance: a small spelling slip still finds the right product, so a mistyped search does not end on an empty page.

Tip

If more than a handful of products fill your store, keep search easy to reach on every page. Shoppers who search are often the closest to buying, so make it effortless for them.

Open search from the header

Backline opens search in a drawer that slides over the page you are already on. A shopper can try a search, change their mind, and close it again without losing their place, which makes searching feel low risk.

• Suggestions as they type: predictive results appear inside the drawer, so a shopper can go from two or three letters to the right product page without ever loading a results page.
• The full results page is one press away: pressing enter opens the complete list, laid out with the same product cards you set up for your collections, so results feel like the rest of your store. See Product cards.
• It works without JavaScript: search is built on a plain form, so on a slow connection or an older phone a shopper can still type a term, press enter, and get results. There is nothing for you to switch on.

Set the header up in Theme editor → Header, and keep the surrounding icons and links few enough that search stands out. The Header and footer page covers the options.

Refine search with filters

The same free Search & Discovery app that powers your collection filters also improves search. With it, you can add filters to search results and shape which products show up first, so shoppers reach the right thing faster.

Help shoppers find everything

• Give your products clear, descriptive titles. Search matches on them, so plain names win.
• Use tags for the words people actually search, even ones that are not in the title.
• Publish a few helpful blog posts. They turn up in search too, and they answer questions that might otherwise become a message to you.

Note

Good search and good collections work together. Search serves the shopper who knows what they want, while collections guide the one who is still browsing. A small catalog benefits from both.