Get started with Search & Navigation

Optimizely's recommended search functionality is Optimizely Search & Navigation, a cloud-ready extension that lets you build advanced customized search features based on your content model. If you use the Optimizely Digital Experience Platform (DXP), Optimizely Search & Navigation is automatically included in your installation. Otherwise, it requires a separate license.

You can use basic query-based search features based on the Lucene search engine for non-cloud environments. To use this search functionality, the NuGet packages EPiServer.Search.Cms and EPiServer.Search must be installed; see Install and deploy Search Service (Legacy).

Search in Optimizely Commerce is also based on Lucene.

Optimizely Search features

Optimizely Search has the following features:

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

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  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 users see only content they can 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 displays as you type the search phrase and becomes more specific as you type more characters.

Optimizely Search functions

Optimizely Search & Navigation includes the following functionality:

• Multi-language stemming
• Best Bets
• Related queries
• Highlighted summaries
• Autocomplete
• Search in files or attachments
• Custom weighting of results
• Statistics

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Note

To ensure maximum availability and scaling flexibility, Optimizely Search & Navigation uses dynamic IP ranges. If you for example require whitelisting of IP addresses in the firewall, make sure that your firewall supports domain-based whitelisting.

Architecture

Optimizely Search & Navigation consists of a back-end software service and a front-end facing client used to build the site search functionality. Various integration options for integrating Search & Navigation with Optimizely Content Management System (CMS), Optimizely Customized Commerce, and other platforms are available. Optimizely Search & Navigation is the default search solution when running CMS using the Optimizely Digital Experience Platform cloud service.

Numerous back-end systems, based on modern infrastructure components, are used behind the scenes for provisioning, indexing, querying, and monitoring the service.

Provisioning of service account and index

Indexing content

Querying content

Integration

Optimizely Search & Navigation is the foundation for search functionality in CMS and Optimizely Customized Commerce. A .NET-based client API integrates it and interacts with the REST API.

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Important

Optimizely Search & Navigation does not support direct use of the JSON API, as there is no way to secure the connection without exposing the access key. In general, do not implement client-side requests directly to Optimizely Search & Navigation.

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JSON

"Find": {
"DefaultIndex": "your_idex",
"ServiceUrl": "service_url",
"LanguageMaps": {
"nn": "no",
"nb": "no"
}
}

Build a resilient solution

Many solutions depend heavily on functionality like search-based landing pages.

Reliable service

You should count on the reliability specified in your service level agreement (SLA). Nevertheless, as search is a central part of a solution, you should implement a graceful degradation strategy if the Search & Navigation service becomes unavailable.

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Note

If Optimizely is not hosting Search & Navigation, Optimizely cannot guarantee the connection between an application and the Search & Navigation service.

Leave the search-generated page sections blank

For example, a page lists the most watched products fetched from Optimizely Search & Navigation. If Optimizely Search & Navigation is down, display a blank list.

Advantage

• Simple to implement.

Disadvantage

• The site does not display the expected information.

Implement query caching

See query caching

Advantages

• Relatively simple to implement.
• The site works in many scenarios even if Optimizely Search & Navigation is down.

Disadvantage

• Development effort required.

Use FindPagesWithCriteria as back-up

See FindPagesWithCriteria.

Advantage

• The site works even if Optimizely Search & Navigation has issues.

Disadvantages

• It takes longer to implement.
• The site is significantly slower.