How can I get my profile, projects and products to rank higher within ArchiPro search bar on the website?
How search works:
To understand how search functions on ArchiPro, it's essential to understand the concept of attributes and weightings. Each product, professional, project, and article published on ArchiPro has various attributes. Attributes are fields filled in by professionals when they publish or edit their content. For instance, a product attribute could be its size or color. Each attribute is assigned a specific weighting or importance. Some attributes carry higher weightings than others.
For example, a product's name holds more significance than the name of the professional selling it. When a user searches for something on the site, the search algorithm ranks and displays the products, professionals, projects, or articles that closely match the search term based on their attributes and weightings.
What are some of these attributes? (in priority order)
| Products | Professionals | Projects | Archizeen |
| Product name | Region | Region | Professional name |
| Professional name | Professional category | Professional name | Article name |
| Product category name | Professional name | Project name | Article category |
| Search tags | Address | Project category | |
| Product description | Search tags | Address | |
| Professionals services | Search tags |
There are other factors taken into consideration, some of which use machine learning to improve results over time. No search engine will ever give away every secret to how it works because this inevitably leads to certain users who try to manipulate the system that unfairly advantages those businesses, at the expense of the end user.
At ArchiPro, we work daily on refining and improving our search results. Most search releases and changes we make aren't noticeable but help us incrementally continue to improve the experience for users as the key is for them to find the best match based on what they are looking for.
How search works when used across different pages:
- On the home page, the search results will show products, professionals, projects and articles.
- On any product page (identified by the URL "/product"), the search results will only show products.
- On any project page (identified by the URL "/project"), the search results will only show projects.
- On any professional page (identified by the URL "/professional"), the search results will only show professionals.
Outside of search what is the importance of attribute data?
The product development team is actively working on adding increased filters to category pages that will take advantage of less common attributes too. For example, on the lighting category page we will show a filter for “Lighting type” and when the user uses this filter they will only be shown products that have this attribute data inputted. Hence if suppliers want their products to be more easily discoverable, then it is vital for to enter high quality attribute data.
Why does my profile not rank highly even if I have filled in all the relevant attributes & search tags, and what can I do about it?
There’s many reasons why this could be. Fill out this survey and our engagement product owner will investigate their concerns and advise your client director and client manager on what can be done to rank higher.
What are search tags?
Search tags are five words/phrases that can be entered for each product/project/professional/article published. It’s extremely important to make the most of these tags to ensure content is as discoverable as it can be.
If we take a client for example, whose main product category is rugs, t makes sense that they use “Rugs” as one of their search tags for their professional profile so that when rugs are typed into the search bar they are more likely to be discovered.
What can I do to rank higher and be more discoverable?
- Have a good think about your search tags. Put yourself into your customers shoes and think about the terms that they would use to find your profile, your projects and your products.
- Include as much accurate attribute data as possible, having more accurate data inputted is likely to give you an edge over the competition. Don't skip optional attributes if you have the information.
- Upload variant images if you have them, especially of the different colored products you have. The platform already has color filters and if you upload variant images then your products are more likely to be discoverable through these filters. When users search for terms like “red chair” if you have only uploaded a photo of a black chair then your product will be less discoverable for this search term.
- The use of special characters should be avoided where possible.
NB. We don't advise altering the names of your products/projects or your trading name to artificially rank higher on search.
The key advice we can share with you is focus on your content.
Content and quality questions
- Does the content provide a substantial, complete or comprehensive description of the business profile, project or product?
- Does the content provide insightful analysis or interesting information that is beyond obvious?
- Does the headline and/or page title provide a descriptive, helpful summary of the content?
- Does the headline and/or page title avoid being exaggerating or shocking in nature?
- Is this the sort of page you'd want to bookmark, share with a friend, or recommend?
- Would you expect to see this content in or referenced by a printed magazine, encyclopedia or book?
- Are the search tags used likely to be terms users type in to search for your business, project or product? Ensure you add search tags to your 'Profile Details' section as well as your Products, Projects and Articles.
Presentation and production questions
- Does the content have any spelling or stylistic issues?
- Was the content produced well, or does it appear sloppy or hastily produced?
Comparative questions
- Does the content provide substantial value when compared to other pages in search results?
- Does the content seem to be serving the genuine interests of visitors to the site or does it seem to exist solely by someone attempting to guess what might rank well in search engines?
Beyond asking yourself these questions, consider having others you trust but who are unaffiliated with your site provide an honest assessment.
Recently searched
When you click on the search function, ArchiPro displays a "Recently Searched" section. This section shows your five most recent search terms. It allows you to quickly access your past searches. If desired, you can also clear your search history.
Suggested categories
When the user begins typing into the search bar we show them a list of suggested categories that have results that include their search term.
Some of the future planned improvements for search
- To address the common problem found on ArchiPro 3.0, we will be changing search to always show results for products/projects/professionals/articles regardless of what page or URL the user has searched from.
- Fuzzy search: The search functionality will be enhanced to recognize and accommodate misspelled words, still providing appropriate results.
- Suggestions: As you type, the system will offer suggestions for search terms to help you find what you're looking for more quickly.
- Search pre-filtering will be added to help users narrow down on what they are looking for, before they have even searched.
- Synonym support - Basin/Sink
- Color variants - A professional that has a variant image uploaded for a color, will be advantaged when that color is searched for.