Before you create search configurations, an administrator must have already created a search configuration tree. When you create a search configuration, you specify a name and, optionally, a base configuration.
If you want to have multiple search configurations, you need to create them in a search configuration folder. Each search configuration folder specifies a dimension type for which the search configurations it contains must provide a value. For example, a search folder with a dimension type of segment holds search configurations that each apply to a unique segment.
To create a search configuration:
In Search Configuration Tree view of the Browse tab, click the Create New button and choose Search Configuration.
The Details pane displays empty text boxes you will fill with information about the configuration.
In the Name text box, provide a name for the search configuration. Providing a name that identifies the dimension value used by this search configuration will help to distinguish it from others.
If you want the search configuration to exist in a folder, complete these tasks:
Check to see if there’s a search configuration folder name beside Select Parent. If you don’t see a name or you don’t see the name of the search configuration folder that should hold the search configuration you’re creating, click Select Parent and, once the Select an Item dialog box opens, click the radio button beside your preferred parent. Click OK.
You’ll see a dropdown menu named for the type of dimension used by the parent folder – Language or Segment. Select the dimension value from this dropdown menu. The options in this list represent the values for that dimension type that have not been assigned to other search configurations in the same tree branch.
If you want your search configuration to base its settings on those supplied by a base search configuration, click Select beside the Inherit From Base textbox to open the Select an Item dialog box. Click the radio button beside the base search configuration, then click OK.
A secondary dialog box prompts you to determine whether you also want to use settings for the Result Prioritization tab from the base search configuration. If you performed these tasks in a different order than recommended here and have already provided settings to the Result Prioritization tab, accepting settings from the base configuration will override the current settings.
Click Create.
Define the settings on the search configurations tabs as described in the Defining Search Configurations.
A key aspect of the Search Merchandising feature is the use of search configuration files. These are XML files that represent sets of ATG Search query rules that specify how to order the search results and to exclude certain results entirely, based on terms in the search query and values of the properties of the returned items. For example, a search configuration might specify that less expensive items should be displayed first, and that if the query contains the word “bargain”, all items whose price is above $100.00 should be excluded from the results.
An administrative user creates the folders that make up the search configuration tree. The merchandiser then creates search configurations to populate these folders. The Merchandising UI includes a set of five tabs for defining the various settings that make up a search configuration. The following table describes the tasks you can perform on each of these tabs:
Tab | Task |
|---|---|
General | Specify the name of the search configuration and either the language or segment value (depending on the tree structure). |
Redirection | Define rules for redirecting to other pages rather than displaying search results. |
Result Prioritization | Specify the ordering of the results based on the relative rankings assigned to property prioritization, search term relevance, and search term property match. |
Result Exclusion | Define rules for excluding certain items from the search results. |
Result Positioning | Define rules for moving certain items higher on the list of search results. |
The settings are applied in the order listed in the table. So, for example, if product A gets moved to the top of the search results based on result prioritization, and then product B gets moved to the top based on result positioning, then product B will end up ahead of product A.
This chapter includes the following sections:
Once you’ve created search configurations and provided settings, you can see how ATG Search applies them to searches on your Web site, by running sample search tests as described in Performing Search Tests.
