A shopper types “waterproof school bag” into your store. You sell several suitable products, but their titles only say “junior backpack”. The search returns nothing. Buying more traffic will not fix that gap between the language customers use and the language in your catalogue.
For Irish retailers, internal site search deserves its own improvement plan. It helps visitors who already know roughly what they need find a suitable item. This guide covers search inside your shop; our Google Merchant Center product-feed guide covers discovery on Google.
Start with real searches, not a new search engine
Build a small review sheet containing the query, number of results, products shown and what happened next. Start with common searches, searches with no results and queries followed by an immediate exit. Remove personal information before sharing examples with a supplier.
Test a representative set manually on mobile. Include an exact product name, a brand, a category, a misspelling, a product code and an everyday description. Ask a staff member who answers customer calls to contribute phrases. Their vocabulary often exposes missing catalogue terms that developers would not think to test.
Give the catalogue enough information to work with
Search quality depends partly on structured product information. Keep names, brands, variants, sizes and categories consistent. Separate “available online” from “available in a particular branch” where that distinction matters. A shopper should not discover an unavailable size only after opening several results.
Create a controlled synonym list. “School bag” and “backpack” may belong together; “charger” and “battery” should not automatically become interchangeable. Check important synonyms against actual products before release. Our inventory synchronisation guide explains how stock data can stay aligned with the systems behind the shop.
Make results easy to compare
A useful result card answers the next buying question: what is it, what does it cost, and is the relevant option available? Use clear product photography and a readable name. Add attributes that matter for that category rather than covering every card with badges.
Keep filters specific. Footwear might need size and fit; catering supplies might need capacity and pack quantity. Show active filters clearly and provide an obvious way to remove them. On mobile, make the filter control discoverable and show how many results remain. Nielsen Norman Group’s research on applying filters provides useful guidance for this interaction.
Design a useful no-results page
Do not stop at “No products found”. Repeat the search phrase, offer a sensible correction where one exists, and let people clear restrictive filters. Suggest relevant categories or a contact route for product advice. Avoid filling the screen with unrelated bestsellers, which can make the system appear to have misunderstood the request.
For example, a shop could recognise “A4 laminating pouches 250 micron” but find no stock. A helpful response separates that stock problem from a spelling problem, offers other thicknesses with clear labels, and allows a stock enquiry. It should never silently replace the requested specification.
Measure the journey after the search
Track search-to-product clicks, no-result frequency, filter use and completed purchases after search. Treat conversion comparisons carefully: search users may already have stronger buying intent. A higher conversion rate alone does not prove that a design change caused the improvement.
Release one small change at a time where traffic allows. Maintain a fixed set of test queries so you can catch regressions when new stock arrives. Assign someone to review failed searches regularly; search is an ongoing merchandising task as well as a software feature.
A practical first release
Begin with clean attributes, a short synonym list, readable results, useful filters and a helpful empty state. A specialist hosted search service may make sense for a large catalogue, but choosing one before diagnosing the problem can add cost without resolving weak product data.
Elephantfly’s ecommerce development team in Ireland can review the full search-to-checkout journey. For interface research and mobile testing, explore our UI/UX design service or book a project discussion.
