Custom Search — Customization and Relevance Tuning

Custom Search Controller

namespace Vendor\Module\Controller\Search;

use Magento\Framework\App\Action\Action;
use Magento\Framework\App\Action\Context;
use Magento\Search\Model\QueryFactory;

class Advanced extends Action
{
    public function __construct(
        Context $context,
        private QueryFactory $queryFactory
    ) {
        parent::__construct($context);
    }

    public function execute()
    {
        $query = $this->queryFactory->create();
        $query->setSearchParam('q', $this->getRequest()->getParam('q'));
        $query->setSearchParam('category_id', $this->getRequest()->getParam('category'));
        
        $this->loadLayout();
        $this->getLayout()->getChildBlock('search.results')
            ->setQuery($query);
        $this->renderLayout();
    }
}

Custom Search Block

namespace Vendor\Module\Block\Search;

use Magento\Search\Block\Result;

class CustomResult extends Result
{
    public function getSearchResults(): array
    {
        $results = parent::getSearchResults();
        
        // Add custom ranking
        return $this->rankResults($results);
    }

    private function rankResults(array $results): array
    {
        usort($results, function ($a, $b) {
            return $b->getRelevance() - $a->getRelevance();
        });
        return $results;
    }
}

Custom Search Collection

namespace Vendor\Module\Model\Search;

class CustomCollection extends \Magento\Search\Model\ResourceModel\Fulltext\Collection
{
    public function addSearchFilter($query)
    {
        // Custom search logic
        parent::addSearchFilter($query);
        
        // Add relevance scoring
        $this->getSelect()->order('relevance DESC');
        
        return $this;
    }
}

Custom Search Result Display

// Template: search/results.phtml
<?php foreach ($block->getSearchResults() as $result): ?>
<div class="search-result">
    <h3><a href="<?php echo $result->getProductUrl(); ?>">
        <?php echo $result->getName(); ?>
    </a></h3>
    <p class="price"><?php echo $result->getPrice(); ?></p>
    <p class="relevance">Relevance: <?php echo $result->getRelevance(); ?></p>
    <?php if ($result->getCustomAttribute()): ?>
        <p class="custom"><?php echo $result->getCustomAttribute(); ?></p>
    <?php endif; ?>
</div>
<?php endforeach; ?>

Search Filters

// Add custom filters to search
public function addFilters(array $filters)
{
    foreach ($filters as $attribute => $value) {
        $this->getSelect()->where(
            $this->getResource()->getAttribute($attribute)->getAttributeCode() . ' = ?',
            $value
        );
    }
}

Search Sorting

// Custom sort options
public function addSortOrder($sortOrder)
{
    switch ($sortOrder) {
        case 'relevance':
            $this->getSelect()->order('relevance DESC');
            break;
        case 'price_asc':
            $this->getSelect()->order('price ASC');
            break;
        case 'price_desc':
            $this->getSelect()->order('price DESC');
            break;
        case 'name':
            $this->getSelect()->order('name ASC');
            break;
    }
}

Relevance Scoring

// Custom relevance calculation
public function calculateRelevance($product, $query)
{
    $score = 0;
    
    // Exact name match: highest weight
    if (stripos($product->getName(), $query) !== false) {
        $score += 100;
    }
    
    // SKU match
    if (stripos($product->getSku(), $query) !== false) {
        $score += 90;
    }
    
    // Description match
    if (stripos($product->getDescription(), $query) !== false) {
        $score += 50;
    }
    
    // Boost in-stock products
    if ($product->isSalable()) {
        $score += 20;
    }
    
    // Boost by sales
    $score += $product->getSalesCount() / 10;
    
    return $score;
}

Attribute Weight Configuration

// Attribute search weights
'catalog/search' => [
    'weight' => [
        'name' => 10,
        'sku' => 9,
        'description' => 5,
        'short_description' => 4,
        'custom_attribute' => 3
    ]
]

Elasticsearch Relevance

{
  "query": {
    "multi_match": {
      "query": "laptop",
      "fields": ["name^10", "sku^9", "description^5"]
    }
  }
}

Boosting Strategies

1. Exact match boost — exact term matches get highest score
2. Field weight — name > SKU > description
3. Stock boost — in-stock products ranked higher
4. Sales boost — popular products ranked higher
5. Recency boost — newer products ranked higher

Faceted Search

// Add facets to search results
public function addFacets()
{
    $this->getSelect()->group('category_id');
    
    // Category facet
    $this->getSelect()->columns([
        'category_count' => new \Zend_Db_Expr('COUNT(DISTINCT category_id)')
    ]);
}

Search Analytics

// Track search terms
namespace Vendor\Module\Service;

class SearchAnalytics
{
    public function trackSearch(string $query, int $resultCount): void
    {
        $this->resource->getConnection()->insert('search_log', [
            'query' => $query,
            'result_count' => $resultCount,
            'created_at' => date('Y-m-d H:i:s')
        ]);
    }
}

Search API

// REST API for custom search
// GET /rest/V1/search?searchCriteria[request_name]=quick_search&searchCriteria[filterGroups][0][filters][0][field]=q&searchCriteria[filterGroups][0][filters][0][value]=laptop

// GraphQL search
query {
  products(search: "laptop") {
    items {
      name
      sku
      price { regularPrice { amount { value } } }
    }
    total_count
  }
}

Best Practices

1. Tune relevance weights based on analytics
2. Use synonyms for common misspellings
3. Track zero-result searches for improvement
4. Implement search suggestions
5. A/B test relevance changes