When nothing is found

"Gelbes Sofa" (yellow sofa) names the sofas and the color yellow, and the shop sells no yellow sofa. Instead of an empty page, the search steps back and shows the sofas:

curl -s 'http://127.0.0.1:7800/v1/search?query=gelbes%20Sofa' \
  | jq -c '.relaxed, (.resolution | del(.left_out)), .resolution.left_out,
      [.sections[] | select(.type == "product") | .hits[].entity]'

true
{"category":"wohnen/sofas","filters":{"color":"yellow"},"text":"","complete":true}
[{"where":{"color":"yellow"},"source":"query","label":"Farbe","labels":{"yellow":"Gelb"}}]
["product:SOFA-ASKA-2","product:SOFA-LUND-3","product:SOFA-NIKO-SCHLAF","product:SOFA-VIDAR-ECK"]

relaxed says the search stepped back. The resolution still says what the query named, and left_out lists what the results leave out, labeled in the request's locale.

Reference: relaxed · left_out

The ladderCopy Anchor Link

A search that named something and found nothing steps down a ladder, one more call to Meilisearch per step, and only while the step before found nothing:

1. Without the filters the query named, within the category it named, searching the words left over.
2. Without the category too, searching the query's words again.

"Rotes Regal Eiche" (red shelf, oak) takes both steps. The trace has a relax step for each, with what it dropped and the text it searched:

curl -s 'http://127.0.0.1:7800/v1/search?query=rotes%20Regal%20Eiche&debug=1' \
  | jq -c '(.trace.steps[] | select(.step == "relax")), [.sections[] | select(.type == "product") | .hits[].entity]'

{"step":"relax","dropped":[{"color":"red"}],"text":"Eiche"}
{"step":"relax","dropped":[{"category":{"within":"wohnen/regale"}}],"text":"rotes Regal Eiche"}
["product:REGAL-STEG"]

No shelf is red, and none holds "Eiche", so the second step searches the query's words and finds the Steg bookshelf. A query that named only a category takes the second step at once. A relaxed search never redirects to the page the query named.

Reference: relax

Say what was left outCopy Anchor Link

Tell the shopper what the results leave out, from the labels left_out carries:

curl -s 'http://127.0.0.1:7800/v1/search?query=gelbes%20Sofa' \
  | jq -r '.resolution.left_out[] | "without \(.label) \(.labels[])"'

without Farbe Gelb

"Farbe Gelb" is color yellow, in the store's German. ListingPage from the React components says so above the results. Its empty states always offer a next step: NoResults offers the way to every product, tips and the shop's departments, and NoMatches offers to remove the filters that leave nothing.

Reference: AppliedFilter

Nothing at allCopy Anchor Link

A query that names nothing and matches nothing, such as "Fahrrad" (bicycle) in a furniture store, is not an error. It answers empty sections:

curl -s 'http://127.0.0.1:7800/v1/search?query=Fahrrad' | jq -c '[.sections[] | {type, total}]'

[{"type":"category","total":0},{"type":"product","total":0},{"type":"content","total":0},{"type":"brand","total":0}]

Nothing was named, so nothing is left out and the answer has no relaxed.

Teach the shop the wordsCopy Anchor Link

The panel's Insights lists the queries that found nothing most often. Such a query is often a word the shop does not know yet:

• A word for something it sells, such as "couch" for a sofa, is a synonym.
• A phrase with a number, such as "bis 220 cm" (up to 220 cm), is a pattern.

Synonyms and Patterns show how to add them.

NextCopy Anchor Link

• Insights: the searches that found nothing, day by day.
• Synonyms: teach the shop the words its shoppers use.
• React components: the empty states ready to use.