An individual search configuration can include any number of rules and settings, and for some sites, the various search configurations may differ only in a few of the rules. For example, you might want to include rules in every search configuration to exclude items that are not in stock. To avoid having to create the same rules repeatedly, you can use a special type of search configuration called a base search configuration. A base search configuration is like a template of settings that can be associated with any number of standard search configurations. Unlike a standard search configuration, a base search configuration is never applied directly to a search query.

To use a base search configuration, you associate it with one or more standard search configurations and then select, in the standard search configuration, which settings to inherit and which to override.

A search configuration can use only those base search configurations that don’t have conflicting languages. The languages need not be identical: a search configuration that supports US English can have a base configuration supporting English or Any language. Likewise, a search configuration that supports any language that has All Others as its language value can use any base search configuration.

The order in which you create your search configurations and base configurations has no significance, assuming that search configuration folders have been created already by your site administrator. (For instructions on creating search configuration folders, see the ATG Merchandising Administration Guide.) You may, however, find it easier to create base search configurations first, especially if you define them immediately after creating them. That way, when you create the search configurations, you can associate a base configuration immediately and see the inherited settings.