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Phrases (Autocomplete)

Phrases are suggestions displayed to customers while typing in the search field. They help users find what they're looking for faster, while also guiding them to products you have in stock.

How Do Phrases Work?​

Customer types: "red"
                  |
+-----------------------------------------+
|  red wine                               |  <- Phrase with highest score
|  red hat                                |
|  red t-shirt                            |
|  red dress                              |
+-----------------------------------------+

Automatic Generation​

Phrases are automatically created from your customers' search history. When a customer searches for something and finds results, the system remembers this phrase and offers it to others next time.

Example:

  1. Customer searches for "winter jacket men's"
  2. Finds 45 products
  3. Phrase "winter jacket men's" is saved to the system
  4. Next customer starts typing "wint..." and sees suggestion "winter jacket men's"

Intelligent Sorting​

Phrases are sorted by score, which considers:

FactorDescriptionImpact
PopularityHow many times the phrase was searched in the last 30 daysHigh
Result CountHow many products the phrase findsMedium
FreshnessWhen was the phrase last searchedMedium
Phrase LengthLonger phrase = more specific queryLow

The system automatically prioritizes phrases that are currently popular and lead to relevant results.

Managing Phrases in Administration​

Find phrases in the menu Search Settings -> Phrases.

Column Overview​

ColumnMeaning
TermThe phrase itself displayed in autocomplete
ResultsNumber of products the phrase finds
QueriesTotal number of searches all-time
Queries (30 days)Number of searches in the last 30 days
ScoreCalculated score for sorting (higher = better position)
Last SearchDate of last search for this phrase
VisibilityEnabled/disabled display in autocomplete
HighlightBoost for prioritizing the phrase

Use the search field to quickly find a specific phrase. You can search by:

  • Part of the term (e.g., "jack" finds "winter jacket", "leather jacket")
  • Full term

Visibility Settings​

You can hide or show each phrase using the toggle in the "Visibility" column.

When to Hide a Phrase?​

  • Phrase leads to products you no longer sell
  • Phrase contains typos or nonsensical text
  • Phrase is inappropriate or spam
  • Phrase leads to sold-out products (temporarily)

When to Keep a Phrase Visible?​

  • Phrase leads to relevant products
  • Customers actively use it
  • Phrase matches your offering

Hidden phrases stop appearing in autocomplete but remain in the system for potential re-enabling.

Highlighting (Boost)​

Using the "Highlight" toggle, you can prioritize important phrases. Highlighted phrases appear in top positions in autocomplete.

When to Use Highlighting?​

SituationExample
Seasonal promotions"Christmas gifts", "summer sale"
New products"new collection 2026", "just in stock"
Marketing campaigns"50% off", "free shipping"
Private labelsYour private label name

Usage Example​

Without highlighting:              With "Christmas gifts" highlighted:

1. red wine                        1. Christmas gifts (boost)
2. red hat                         2. red wine
3. Christmas gifts                 3. red hat

Highlighted phrases have absolute priority. Use sparingly - too many highlighted phrases reduce their effect.

Manual Phrase Addition​

You can add a custom phrase that appears in autocomplete regardless of search history.

Procedure​

  1. Click the "Add Phrase" button in the top right corner
  2. Enter the phrase text (e.g., "new spring collection 2026")
  3. Click "Save"

When to Add a Custom Phrase?​

  • New product or category that customers don't know yet
  • Marketing campaign or seasonal promotion
  • Promoting a specific brand or collection
  • Redirecting customers to a specific page

Manually added phrases have a "manual" flag and are not affected by automatic cleanup.

Automatic Maintenance​

The system performs daily maintenance of phrases (every night at 3:00 AM):

What Happens Automatically?​

  1. Popularity recalculation - updating query count for the last 30 days
  2. Score calculation - new score based on current data
  3. Deleting outdated - automatically generated phrases not searched for 90+ days are deleted
  4. Deleting empty - automatically generated phrases with 0 results are deleted

Important: Deletion only applies to automatically generated phrases. Manually added phrases are never deleted - they remain in the system until you manually remove them.

Automatic deletion saves database space and keeps the phrase list relevant.

Phrase Deduplication​

The system automatically merges similar phrases using canonical form.

How Does It Work?​

Customer A searches: "men's t-shirt white"
Customer B searches: "white men's t-shirt"
Customer C searches: "Men's T-shirt White"

         | All merge into:

Canonical form: "men's t-shirt white"
Query count: 3

This prevents duplicates and the phrase gets proper popularity.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)​

Why Do Some Phrases Have a Score of 0?​

A score of 0 means the phrase:

  • Hasn't been searched for more than 30 days
  • Has no results
  • Was just created and recalculation hasn't run yet

How Long Until a New Phrase Appears?​

  • Automatically generated: Immediately after customer search
  • Manually added: Immediately after saving
  • Visibility/boost change: Within a few minutes (after export to Elasticsearch)

Can I Delete a Phrase Completely?​

Automatically generated phrases are deleted automatically if:

  • They have no results (product no longer exists)
  • They haven't been searched for more than 90 days

Manually added phrases are never deleted automatically. Contact support to remove them.

How Many Phrases Appear in Autocomplete?​

Typically 5-10 phrases are displayed (depends on Designer configuration). Phrases with the highest score appear, plus highlighted phrases in top positions.

Why Isn't My Highlighted Phrase Showing First?​

Check:

  1. Is the phrase visible (toggle enabled)?
  2. Does the phrase have non-zero results?
  3. Has export to Elasticsearch been run? (takes effect within a few minutes)
  • Regularly check phrases with high query counts
  • Highlight seasonal and promotional phrases
  • Hide phrases leading to sold-out products
  • Add phrases for new products/categories
  • Highlighting too many phrases at once
  • Ignoring phrases with zero results (may indicate missing products in your offering)

Technical Details​

Score Calculation Formula​

score = log10(queries_30d + 1) x sqrt(result_count) x length_bonus x freshness

Where:

  • queries_30d - number of searches in the last 30 days
  • result_count - how many products the phrase finds
  • length_bonus - longer phrase = higher bonus (max 2x)
  • freshness - exponential decay based on last search age

Export to Elasticsearch​

Changes in administration are exported to Elasticsearch:

  • Immediately: When visibility or boost changes (with need_export flag)
  • Batch: Every 5 minutes a CRON runs for export

Additional Resources​