Prioritize results

Sitecore Search returns paginated results for a search keyphrase in its widgets. This topic describes how you can prioritize some results over others using widget variation rules.

Tip

To additionally target results using the Strategies and Settings sections of a rule, you can configure the Site and Visitor tabs in the Context section.

Important

To save a widget variation rule, you need to populate at least one of the following configurations:

  • Site or visitor context.

  • Blacklist, boost, pin, or bury strategy.

The following procedures cover various typical scenarios to prioritize some results over others.

Boost items based on the value of an attribute

When this variation is Active, all results which have the selected attribute set to the entered value, are present before other results.

To boost items based on the value of an attribute:

  1. To define context for the widget variation rule, follow the steps in the define site context in a widget variation rule or define visitor context in a widget variation rule procedure.

  2. On the menu bar, click Strategies.

  3. In the left pane of the Strategies page, click the Boost Rules tab.

  4. Click Add attribute, select an attribute from the list, and in the operator drop-down menu, click Is.

  5. To set the attribute value, in the text box, enter an appropriate value and click Save.

  6. To deploy, click Publish.

Pin an item

In a widget variation rule, an item pinned to a slot displays a Pin in the top-right.

When this variation is Active and rule is in effect, the dragged content item appears in the selected slot.

To boost items based on the value of an attribute:

  1. To define context for the widget variation rule, follow the steps in the define site context in a widget variation rule or define visitor context in a widget variation rule procedure.

  2. On the menu bar, click Strategies.

  3. Click the Slots tab.

  4. In the right pane, on the Content items tab, to filter the list by name, in the search input field, enter text or to filter the list by other attributes, click Filter.

    For details and a performance analytics summary of an item, click Quick Look.

  5. Drag the item to one of the slots then to select boosting strategy, click Filter.

  6. Select Boost.

  7. Click Save.

  8. To deploy, click Publish.

Pin an item to a slot in all widgets

In a global widget variation rule, an item pinned to a slot displays a Pin in the top-right.

To pin an item to a slot in all widgets:

  1. On the menu bar, click Global Resources.

  2. Click Global Widget.

  3. On the Global Widget Variations tab, click Add Variation and enter an easy to identify name for the new variation.

  4. Turn on the Make this as a default variation switch and click Save.

  5. To define context for the widget variation rule, follow the steps in the define site context in a widget variation rule or define visitor context in a widget variation rule procedure.

  6. On the Rules tab, click Add Rule.

  7. On the menu bar, click Strategies.

  8. In the right pane, on the Content items tab, to filter the list by name, in the search input field, enter text or to filter the list by other attributes, click Filter.

    For details and a performance analytics summary of an item, click Quick Look.

  9. Drag the item to one of the slots.

  10. Click Save.

  11. To deploy, click Publish.

Switch from pinning an item to boosting it

In a widget variation rule, an item pinned to a slot displays a Pin in the top-right corner.

To switch from pinning item to boosting item:

  1. On the menu bar, click Strategies.

  2. Click the Slots tab.

  3. In the pinned item, to select other strategies, click Pin.

  4. Select Boost.

  5. Click Save.

  6. To deploy, click Publish.

Remove the item pinned to a slot

In a widget variation rule, an item pinned to a slot displays a Pin in the top-right.

To remove an item pinned to a slot:

  1. To open the slot drop-down menu, click Pin.

  2. Select the Personalized check box.

  3. Click Save.

  4. To deploy, click Publish.

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