With that spike in online traffic and advancements in device technology over the past few years, people expect to find the information they want quickly. As a result, many people start with a search to find almost anything online, including your product or service. But, then, when they get there, is everything easy to find? 

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Users who need help finding what they are looking for within a few simple clicks will look elsewhere for the answer they desire. Implementing site search features is an essential business tool for driving engagement and generating valuable insights. The design and placement of significant experience items, like search, can make or break your user’s satisfaction when exploring your site. Today’s blog will cover 4 user-search best practices and how to implement a search function on your Webflow website.  

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The 4 best practices to remember: 

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1. Make your search box easy to find and experience human-centered 

2. Manage and capture data that is searched on your site

3. Ensure your search results page is straightforward and easy to understand

4. Create autocomplete, autocorrect, filters, and facets for a smooth search process

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By ensuring your site follows all of these best practices, you are equipping your users with a fluid experience throughout your website. 

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1. How to make your search box and page human-centered

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To summarize, “human-centered” is an approach to building a design that focuses on the user’s intentions or interactions first. Let’s dive into a few examples: 

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• Find a location on your website where the search bar will always be in view.

• We recommend adding your site’s search function to your heading NAV or footer, so people always have quick access. 

• Add a placeholder copy to the search bar. 

• Adding microcopy like “search for anything” or “I want to find…” will help the user phase their search inquiry. 

• Make sure your search bar or box can accept long searches. 

• When adding or creating your search bar, it’s a best practice to ensure that the box size is long enough to accept average keywords on your website. If you need to save space, consider designing a search box that expands or opens when the user clicks an icon or text. 

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2. Study the management of search data on your website

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As a website owner, you know how valuable and essential it is to capture useful data. This data can provide insights to clarify your customer's actions and help you prioritize how to drive more business to your offering; for example: 

• A website owner can use search insights to identify popular products or offerings and see new site trends arise. Afterward, you can manage your website to match the insights you found. For instance, making your popular products easier to view or helping users who search discover related products on your site. 

• The following example is for managers of content-heavy sites. A site content owner might want to identify topics that users are searching for and create content for that particular topic. Or they could make their popular resources easier to find for new users and point out which content is most searched for on the site. 

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3. A template for ensuring your search results page is straightforward to understand

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It’s not surprising that many search results pages are poorly optimized and overwhelmed with content. Organizing everything can become a challenge if you’ve got a ton of content on your site. Therefore, consider implementing the following items on your search page: 

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Showcase the search question at all times on the page.

• If the user has to scroll or go through more than one page of search results, they might need to remember their search topic or want to start a new one if they cannot find the desired result. 

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Highlight or call out search keywords. 

• Similar to the best practice above, showcasing terms or words the person used to search is essential to ensure they quickly find what they are looking for on your website. 

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Don’t bother creating a “no-results” page. 

• Site owners and developers should ensure the website’s synonym library is well-defined and captures all relevant page content, products, and secondary offerings. Instead of showing a “no results found” page, send users to related products or content to help them find something close to what they were looking for, even if you don’t have the exact content they had in mind. 

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Format your search results page like you would a blog. 

• Think about your search page's design and interaction as if it were a blog. Keep all headings, search titles, and paragraphs within a clean viewport for the user. Consider using a layout from another part of your site to inspire how to lay out your search content best.

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4. Create autocomplete, autocorrect, filters, and facets for a smooth search process

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Nowadays, it’s not enough to include a search on your site. People want a smooth experience to find what they need. With that, human input is not perfect. In our rush to find information, many issues can occur. Here are a few ways you can improve your user’s search experience:  

• Include auto-suggestions and recommended terms. This helps users quickly tap into what they were searching for in the first place or finish what they wanted to note before they type the entire quarry. 
• Your site search must be tolerant of typos. Use textual relevance so users get results no matter what.
• Provide filters to help bring further specificity to their search. Some standard filters include size, color, and price for an eCommerce site.

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5. How to add site search to your Webflow website

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Webflow makes adding search to your website super easy. Let’s explain how to execute a search feature on your Webflow site.

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Note that you will need a CMS or Business Hosting plan to unlock full search functionality across your site. This upgrade is recommended for anyone who hosts content on their website. 

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1. Find a location to add your search bar or box. 
2. Open your elements (A) and scroll to “advanced.” 
3. Drag and drop the “search” element into the location you chose in step one. 
4. Webflow should show a notification that your search page was created. 
5. Navigate to “pages” and scroll to “utility pages.” 
6. Add your NAV, footer, and any other consistent site components. 
7. To style your Search Results page, use the same elements (Use the “A” key to open elements) as you would a “regular” Webflow page. 
8. Open the “navigator” using the “Z” key. 
9. Find the item called “Search Results Wrapper.” Then, click on the gear icon highlighted around the wrapper. 
10. Edit your results and snippet length to find the settings that are right for your design. 
11. Add search boxes throughout your site by repeating steps one through three. 

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Publish your Webflow site and test your search boxes! The result should link to your results page. Consider reviewing the page slugs or URLs included within your sitemap if you run into an issue. 

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To recap, we covered the following best practice to include when creating a site search function on your website: 

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1. Make your search box easy to find and experience human-centered 

2. Manage and capture data that is searched on your site

3. Ensure your search results page is straightforward and easy to understand

4. Create autocomplete, autocorrect, filters, and facets for a smooth search process

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Our insights help you create a better search process for your customers. If you need help with adding search to your site, consider exploring options of companies or individuals that can help build the functions you need. In addition, many different third-party tools can add search functionality to your website. We would also like to shout out Algolia.com for insights throughout this article. 

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Thank you for viewing our blog about features required to create custom searches on a website.

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