Augmented site search is a kind of search engine that is focused entirely on a single website. Its main function is to enable users to search that specific website’s content and products using visual AI and natural language processing (NLP) to provide fast and relevant results.
Why Is Augmented Site Search Important?
eCommerce is always evolving and along with it are the ever-increasing demands and expectations of online shoppers. Generic search engines have limited tools and basic techniques that are not optimized per vertical. They are not designed to understand context and capture intent. Hence, users have to deal with poor search results that can lead to frustrations, or worse, complete abandonment of your website.
Done right, augmented site search can provide an on-site search experience that is a match for the way customers expect to browse your site. It enables them to find products in a manner that is seamless, simple, quick, and relevant, along with personalized product results that make shoppers feel seen and understood.
How Does Augmented Site Search Work?
Deep tagging powered by visual AI and NLP are the two technologies that enable successful augmented search. Here’s how it works:
- Visual AI automatically assigns detailed, image-based tags to your inventory. These tags enrich product information to ensure accuracy and relevance in search results. Because the product tags are not limited to text-based labels, the search engine surfaces all relevant products even when users search a different but similar word.
- Meanwhile, NLP works to decipher human context and intent in text-based search queries in order to deliver search results and recommendations that most closely match the original query.
Together, augmented site search allows for smoother navigation, more organized search filters, and smarter merchandising. It can even personalize the end-to-end customer experience when combined with the right tools and strategy.
Rinascimento uses augmented site search to surface all relevant search results for the keyword “spaghetti strap top.”
What Are the Benefits of Augmented Site Search?
Augmented site search offers many benefits across the board, including:
- Accurate and relevant search results – It can identify not only language and context, but also real-time intent. As a result, it ensures that customers get search results containing products that they want to buy.
- Intelligent merchandising – Having the most updated product feeds allows you to dynamically set merchandising rules in motion, without the need to manually update. This also enables you to deliver not only accurate search results, but also strategic product placements and promotions that benefit your shoppers in each session.
- Comprehensive navigation and filters – Well-organized and AI-augmented product tags are the foundation of intuitive website navigation and best-in-class filtering systems. Both are useful for leading shoppers to the products they’re looking for regardless of where they are in the customer journey.
- Data and insights – Leveraging the insights that you unlock from analyzing customers’ search bar queries, you can be better equipped to optimize merchandising and inventory decisions, as well as improve the overall shopping experience.