Search configurations are sets of rules that affect the display of search results. When a site visitor issues a search query on the Commerce site, ATG platform components determine which search configuration to associate with the query, based on the visitor’s language and the user segments he or she is a member of. When ATG Search returns the results from the query, it applies the rules in the search configuration to those results.
As described in the Structuring the Search Configuration Tree and Administering Search Configurations sections, an administrative user creates the folders that make up the search configuration tree. The merchandiser then creates search configurations to populate these folders. The ATG 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.
