Boosting and burying search results

  1. Go to Marketing > Search > Category Boosting.
  2. Click Edit on the selected Category.
  3. Enter the Category Search Boost value and the Product Search Boost value.
  4. Click Save.

Category Boosting

  1. Go to Marketing > Search > Product Boosting.
  2. Click Edit on the selected Product.
  3. Select Yes or No to indicate if the Product is sponsored or not.

    Sponsored search allows merchandisers to guarantee an item appears at the top of the search results page.

  4. Enter the Search Boost value.
  5. Click the Save button.

Product Boosting

  1. Go to Marketing > Search > Search Boosting.
  2. Click Edit for the Field that is to be boosted.
  3. Enter the boost or bury amount in the Value field.
  4. Click the Save button.

Search Boosting: Edit a Search Field Ranking

  1. Go to Marketing > Search > Select either Field or Query Boosting.
  2. Select Edit for the desired field.
  3. Adjust the Boost Value.

    The Boost Value is a multiplier applied to search scores for matches on the field or query. A number greater than 1 will boost the result and a number less than 1 will bury the result. (range of 0.0-100.0) Boost values less than 1 are displayed in RED to indicate a negative impact and any value of 1 or greater is displayed in GREEN to show a positive impact.

    New fields cannot be added to Field Boosting. The system is limited to the fields included in the list, as well as custom properties. Custom properties appear in Field boosting automatically. Select the Show Non-Queryable Fields toggle to view any field not currently indexed; custom properties may appear here instead of in the main list, as they are not indexed by default.

Field and Query Boosting

How to Boost and Bury

The numbers for boosting can be any integer between 100 and -100. The integers assigned to Field, Product, or Category items behave in relation to other boosted or buried same-type items, so it is important to develop a ranking strategy that allows for flexibility.

Designate a product as Sponsored to ensure it appears at the top of all website searches regardless of the product's boosting value. Administrators can select how many sponsored products are present with each search.

Sponsored Product

If a category is in a multi-level hierarchy, ensure the boosting value is entered on the child category instead of the parent category. Values entered on parent categories do not boost products, as there are no products assigned to parent categories.

Category boosting boosts all products in a specific category instead of boosting a product individually. This boost value combines with other product boost values to deliver the final result.

Category Boosting

Products can be boosted and buried across all websites or categories where they appear. A positive or negative value is set for a particular product. This value is added to the organic search score and raises or lowers the product based on where the new boosted value sorts numerically in the result set.

Product Boosting

Search Boosting controls the boosting of specific fields in the search index or the boosting of prefixes within the search query. Search boosting affects all websites.

Search Boosting

Query Boosting uses different criteria to find matches in the indexed fields when users search on the storefront. Adjust the boost value to increase or decrease the rank of search results based on the type of query that found the match.

Query Boosting

Fields with search type of Content and Category are only used for results within autocomplete and will not influence product search results.

Fields can be included or excluded from the index to make them queryable on the storefront. Adjust their boost value to increase or decrease the rank of search results based on what fields the query matches.

Field Boosting

Administrators can boost or bury particular product searches, depending on various business requirements. Boosting and burying can be adjusted in the following areas:

General Descriptions

This article provides general descriptions and instructions for how to boost and/or bury search results. For more detailed descriptions and explanations on how boosting and burying works, review the Understanding Elasticsearch Ranking article.