What is Typesense?
We’re loving Typesense! In its simplest form, it’s an indexing platform and an open-source search engine that can be integrated into your website to deliver an excellent user search experience. Here’s how it works and how it’s helping us to build intuitive websites that help our clients achieve their goals.
Typesense promises lightning-fast Open Source Search, but it’s not just about speed, it’s also optimised for instant sub-50ms searches. On top of this, it handles typos brilliantly, automatically correcting them and producing realistic results for even the most bizarre spelling. It will also suggest synonyms, which is useful if you're supplying an international audience. Think pants vs trousers, or thongs vs flip flops. It also offers a range of dynamic sorting, filtering, and grouping options.
The system uses AI to deliver a much better experience. For example, if you’re searching articles, it might suggest others based on what is popular with other searchers. Alternatively, you may search for a product, and it will suggest related or complementary products or give examples of what people also bought. All of this helps people find the information they need quickly, getting them that much closer to taking the desired action.
Our team are all in agreement that it offers a more intuitive development experience over all. It’s all out of the box so the process is now quick and simple. The ability to create collections, add items of content such as products or product data and then very easily implement a search and filter function has streamlined our process. On top of ease of use, it delivers more features and options when it comes to deployment than other search engines.
Source: Typesense Demos
We’re finding it useful on both our Craft CMS and Craft Commerce sites, particularly where there are more unusual product names or non-native language brand names. It’s pretty spot on in making alternative suggestions when it comes to typos, undoubtedly reducing frustration in search and providing a much better user experience. After all, nothing makes a user bounce quicker than shoddy search functionality.
If you’d like to take a closer look at it, the Typesense team have put together some fantastic demos. Here you can see the search engine in action across a range of everyday scenarios from searching for recipes or accommodation to filtering products.
According to Agolia, another popular search engine provider that we’ve used, 30% of e-commerce users will use the search bar on a site. They’re also three times more likely to find what they’re looking for, leading them to convert.
Search functionality can have a significant impact on how successful a website is. It’s not a must for every site, but where products or a significant amount of resources are concerned, it’s now pretty much expected. Besides, if users have found their way to your site through a sea of social media and search results, you’ve clearly peaked their interests. The best thing you can do is make the user experience as seamless as possible in order to help them take the desired actions.
Based in the UK, we’re a web development agency specialising in Craft CMS and Craft Commerce. If you’d like to know how we could support you on your next project, get in touch and let's have a chat.