Product Search

Your IndieMade site has a built-in search that helps shoppers find exactly the product they're after. Results appear on a clean search page using your store's own layout and style, with a result count and a search box to refine from.

Showing the search bar

The search bar lives in your site header. Go to Design, open your header settings, and you'll find two checkboxes:

  • Show Searchbar — puts search in your header.
  • Minified Searchbar — when checked, the searchbar displays as an icon that expands when clicked. It's on by default; uncheck it if you'd rather show a full search box all the time.

Choosing what search covers

In Settings → Store, the Search section has two modes:

  • Product Search (Recommended) — searches your products and shows results in your store's product grid, styled like the rest of your shop. Shoppers land on a search page with the result count and can refine their search right there.
  • Search all my content — uses a plain list format rather than your store layout.

The Search section of Store Settings, showing Search Mode and Hide sold out products from search

"Search all my content" still only searches products today. The name promises more than it currently delivers — including blog posts, pages, and galleries isn't something you can switch on yourself yet. If you want your writing and galleries to be searchable, email support@indiemade.com and we'll sort it out for your site. Until then, Product Search is the better choice: same results, and it looks like your shop.

What gets searched

Search looks at your product's title and description, plus its page title and meta description — those last two carry extra weight, so they're a good place for words shoppers actually type.

SKUs, categories, and option names aren't searched. If customers look things up by SKU, or search for a material or color that only exists as an option name, they won't find it. Put those words in the product description or meta description and they become findable.

Newly saved products are searchable straight away. If you've just imported a large batch, the rest catch up in the background over a little while.

Hiding sold-out products

The Hide sold out products from search checkbox keeps sold-out items out of shoppers' search results. Two things to know:

  • It applies to products with stock tracking switched on. A product with any variation still in stock stays visible.
  • In Product Search mode the change takes effect immediately. In Search all my content mode it only takes hold once the search index refreshes — and the same is true when you switch it back off.

If your sold-out setting is already Do not show or Move to the sold page, sold-out products are excluded from search anyway and this checkbox doesn't change anything.

Search and filters work together

If you've enabled Product Filters, the filter sidebar appears right on the search results page — a shopper can search "earrings," then narrow to silver ones under $40 without leaving the page. This needs both the filters master switch and Show on product search results turned on, and it works in Product Search mode only.

The results page

Results open with a heading, a search box carrying the shopper's words so they can refine, and a count of matches. An empty search shows the search box on its own, and a search with nothing behind it reports zero results.

Questions? Email support@indiemade.com and we'll help you get search set up the way you want it.