Search experiences
Feature availability is part of a phased rollout. Your organization may not see the search experience functionality yet. It will become available when your environment is included in the rollout.
A search experience is the part of a page that lets visitors search a predefined content source and see content in the form of search results.
It is made up of three parts that you configure as a developer:
- The search component - a React component you can copy the search component from the starter kit that renders the search box and results on a page.
- A search source - the index that the component queries. A source can be a site source that crawls a website, a content source that ingests items from the Content editor, or a push source that receives documents directly from an external system through the Ingestion Service API.
- A content item - a Sitecore content item that holds a JSON template telling the component which search source to query and how to map its fields to the UI.
Content authors can then use the Search Configuration Manager Marketplace app to map source fields to the component's UI in Page builder, without needing to touch code or JSON directly.
How search sources work
A search source doesn't just define where content comes from, it also stores the configuration that controls how that content is indexed, filtered, and ranked. Content authors configure this behavior when creating or editing a source, without developer involvement:
- Fields - control whether each field is included, searchable, filterable, or sortable in the search component.
- Rules - boost, bury, or pin items to influence their relevancy score or position in search results.
- Advanced settings - enable semantic reranking or fuzzy search to help visitors find content even when their search terms don't exactly match your content.
For a full conceptual overview, see Understanding search sources.
Prerequisites
Before you can build a search experience, make sure that:
- Your project is on the latest starter kit version, or you have copied the search component into your rendering host project.
- The Search Configuration Manager Marketplace app is installed and enabled for your environment.