Understand keyword redirects

You can configure a keyword redirect to send shoppers to a location in your store or an external site when they enter a specified search term. This lets you display a relevant promotional page or product category page instead of a typical list of search results.

A keyword redirect is triggered by one or more search terms; the target of a keyword redirect is a URL in your store or an external site. For example, a keyword redirect with the search term “delivery” and the URL “http://shipping.example.com” redirects shoppers to “http://shipping.example.com” if they use “delivery” as a search term.

Site-specific keyword redirects

You can define a keyword redirect that applies to all sites or one or more specific sites only. The same search term, entered on different sites, can redirect shoppers to different pages. For example, if Site A and Site B have different policies for returns, you can set up the term “returns” to take shoppers to different pages depending on the site where they are shopping.

You can filter the list of keyword redirects by site to easily find all of the keyword redirects defined for a specific site.

Match modes

The keyword redirect has three match modes. You can set the match mode to a non-default setting by using the search REST APIs. See Configure the ranking of records in search results for more information.

• Exact

  Default match mode. A search query triggers a redirect only if the shopper’s search query matches the keyword or a close variant exactly. The search query cannot include additional words before or after the matching terms.

  For example, if the keyword is “support” and the shopper enters “support,” then the shopper is redirected. If the shopper enters “customer support,” then she is not redirected.

• Phrase

  A search query triggers a redirect if the terms in a shopper’s query match all the terms in a keyword or a close variant in the same order. The search query might include additional words before or after the matching terms.

  For example, if the keyword is “customer support” and the shopper enters “customer support telephone number” then the shopper is redirected. If the shopper enters “support customer” or just “support,” she is not redirected.

• All

  A search query triggers a redirect if the terms in a shopper’s query match all the terms in a keyword or a close variant, but not necessarily in the same order. The search query might include additional words before or after the matching terms.

  For example, if the keyword is “customer support” and the shopper enters “telephone support customer number,” then the shopper is redirected. If the shopper enters “telephone support number,” then she is not redirected.

Integration with the thesaurus

If you create a thesaurus entry that corresponds to a search term for a keyword redirect, the keyword redirect has priority over the thesaurus entry.

For example, you might have a keyword redirecting “curtains” to http://example.com/fallsale/curtains.

If you have a one-way thesaurus entry, with a search term of “curtains” and synonyms of “drapes, shades” then the following occurs:

• A shopper who enters “curtains” as a search term is redirected to http://example.com/fallsale/curtains.
• A shopper who enters “drapes” or “shades” as a search term is not redirected.

If you have an equivalent thesaurus entry, with synonyms of “curtains, drapes, shades” then the following occurs:

• A shopper who enters “curtains” as a search term is redirected to http://example.com/fallsale/curtains.
• A shopper who enters “drapes” or “shades” as a search term is not redirected.