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Optimizely Content Management System (CMS) recommends [Optimizely Search & Navigation](🔗), which is a cloud-ready extension that lets you build advanced customized search features based on your content model. If you are using the Optimizely Digital Experience Platform (DXP), Optimizely Search & Navigation is automatically included in your installation, otherwise it requires a separate license.

For non-cloud environments, you can use basic query-based search features, based on the [Lucene](🔗) search engine. To use this search functionality, the NuGet packages _EPiServer.Search.Cms_ and _EPiServer.Search_ must be installed, see [Install and deploy Search Service (Legacy)](🔗).

Note

The Lucene search **cannot** be used for ASP.NET Core-based applications.

Search in Optimizely Customized Commerce also is based on Lucene.

## Search features

Optimizely Search & Navigation has the features:

  • **Global search** Search across all content types such as pages, blocks, files, videos and images, product content in a Optimizely Customized Commerce product catalog, and community content. Built-in filtering limits the search results to the type of content.

    Note

    You do not get search results on content in blocks added in a **content area** in a template. Usually, this is not a problem because blocks are often used to promote content in a specific source page, which are found when performing the search.

  • **Static facets** Facets are a type of filtering or grouping, where you present groups (facets) of content to limit the search after getting the first query from the user. You can search on categories and content types, and define which category and type facets you want to filter.

  • **Access-based search result filtering** Search results are filtered by access rights, ensuring that users see only content to which they have access.

  • **Pluggable search interface** You can replace the built-in Lucene indexing with another index without changing the code on the client, which uses the same API when searching.

  • **Instant search** The most important related information appears as you type the search phrase, and becomes more specific as you type more characters.