How to Set Up and Use Joomla Smart Search

Smart Search is Joomla's built-in site search. It builds an index of your content so visitors can search quickly, with suggestions and filters.

1. Check the plugins

Smart Search uses plugins to decide what gets indexed.

1. Go to System > Manage > Plugins.
2. In - Select Type -, choose finder to see the Smart Search plugins (Smart Search - Content, Smart Search - Categories, Smart Search - Contacts, Smart Search - Tags, and so on).
3. Enable the ones for content you want searchable, and disable the rest.
4. Clear the type filter, search for Content - Smart Search, and make sure it is enabled. This content plugin keeps the index updated when you save content.

2. Build the index

1. Go to Components > Smart Search.
2. Click Index in the toolbar.
3. Wait for it to finish.

Smart Search shows no results until the index is built. After that, content is usually indexed as you save it. Run Index again after big imports or changes. Very large sites can index from the command line instead (ask your web team).

3. Add search to your site

• Search page: create a menu item of type Smart Search > Search. See How to Change Menus and Navigation in Joomla.
• Search box: add a Smart Search module in your header or sidebar. See Joomla Modules Basics: Positions, Assignments, and Visibility.

4. Narrow results with search filters (optional)

Filters limit a search to certain content, like one section of your site.

1. Go to Components > Smart Search > Filters.
2. Click New and give the filter a name.
3. Pick the content types, categories, authors, or languages to include.
4. Click Save & Close.
5. Select the filter in your Smart Search menu item or module settings.

Visitors can't change these filters. They're set by you.

5. Check what people search for

In Components > Smart Search > Options, set Gather Search Statistics to Yes. Then Components > Smart Search > Search Terms shows what visitors searched for. (The Statistics button on the Indexed Content screen shows index totals, not searches.) Searches with no results can point to content you should add.

Keep search results out of search engines

Search results pages shouldn't be indexed by Google. On the search menu item's Metadata tab, set Robots to noindex, follow.

Search not finding something?

1. Check the content is published and public.
2. Check its Smart Search plugin is enabled.
3. Run Index again.
4. Use Clear Index in the toolbar and re-index if results look wrong.

Related

• How to Use Tags in Joomla to Organize Content
• How to Add a Blog Post or News Item in Joomla

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