Extendware Ajax Search Magento Extension Review

Trying to improve the default Magento search? We know how to help you! It is only necessary to install a third-party module, and today we shed light on Extendware Ajax Search. It represents the easiest and most flexible way of AJAX usage in a search box. After installing the module, you will make products, categories, and other pages rapidly searchable there. Thus, customers will get an opportunity to find products in the easiest way. And as we all know – a better user experience leads to increased sales. In the following post, we shed light on extension’s core features and provide a backend Magento extension tutorial.

Download / Buy Extendware Ajax Search Magento Extension

A better user experience always leads to increase loyalty and conversion rate. Being a part of the improved UX, an easy search mechanism allows customers exactly find what they are looking for without any headaches. And Extendware Ajax Search Magento extension offers lots of configuration options that will make this process even better.  And if you have Extendware Full Page Cache installed on your website (if not do it right now), we should mention that it is configured to cache requests from Ajax Search.

Extendware Full Page Cache Magento Extension

Before we proceed to a list of features, check what other people think about the module:

Features

• Rapid Search Results. Search results are displayed as a customer enters a term in a search box. Everything happens automatically.
• Potentially Related Queries. The extension also provides query suggestions that give customers new search ideas. Consequently, you can easily sell more buy making successful offers.
• Highlighted Terms. It is possible to enable a feature that will highlight keywords in search results.
• Products Without Images. In case you still have products without images in your catalog, the Extendware Ajax Search Magento extension can sort them last among other search results. Thus, you will easily avoid a problem when your store looks unprofessional.
• Matching Products, Categories, and CMS Pages. This is another feature developed to increase sales. After enabling it, the most relevant products will be displayed along with other results. The same is about categories and CMS pages.
• Category Grouping. Products listing can be grouped by a category for providing more context (optional feature).
• Number of Results. The extension lets you limit the number of items (products, categories, suggestions, and pages) that are displayed.
• Responsive Design. The extension easily works on mobile devices, but often it is a good idea to turn the AJAX search box off because of a small screen.
• Attributes. Search attributes can be easily customized in the backend. The same is about attributes used as the name / description of a product
• CMS Pages. Note that you can hide chosen CMS pages from search results.
• Product Image. The module even lets you change product image parameters. For instance, it is possible to set new product image dimensions.
• Various Metrics. There are different metrics available for each result type. By using them, you can easily make search results more precise.
• Popup Orientation and Appearance. The Extendware Ajax Search Magento module allows you to choose the popup orientation on a page. Besides, you can alter its appearance.
• Multiple Stores. The extension supports multiple stores, so you can have unique settings for each one.

Backend

The module can be configured under Extendware -> Manage Extensions -> Search Suggest -> Configure. There are 5 tabs of settings there: General, Query suggest, Product suggest, Category suggest, and Page suggest.

General settings are divided into 3 sections: General, Responsiveness, and Advanced. The first tab lets you enable/disable the extension (Status), choose what box to use (Use Default Box), specify box orientation (on the left or right side of the box), enable search terms highlight (Highlight Terms), as well as enter Default Text that will be displayed in the search box and a No Results message.

The Responsiveness section lets you specify the minimum width and height of a viewport in order to disable the extension for devices with small screens.

In the Advanced section, you can specify box width and its maximum height; the minimum number of characters that must be entered in the box to start an Ajax request; box top offset adjustment; and the frequency of input field polls. It is also possible to disable save query here.

In Query suggest, you enable/disable the feature, specify the maximum number of items and the maximum name length, and choose how to sort results (by popularity or name; both can be descending or ascending).

The number of Product suggest parameters is essentially bigger. You can turn on the feature, enable showing in-stock items, sort products without images last, specify the maximum number of items, choose a name source (an attribute for displaying an item name) and a description source, specify the maximum name and description length, set image width and height,

choose sorting manner, enable/disable category grouping, specify an attribute for a category name source, set maximum category name length, choose the destination of the “View Results Page” link and a category filter mode, as well as specify the maximum number of times a product may be shown in the result page.

As for Category suggest, it also can be enabled/disabled. Besides, there are tons of other parameters, such as Search Engine (Normal or Sphinx for instance), Max Items, Name Source (attribute for the name of the item), Path Snippet Format, Description Source (attribute), Max Name Length, Max Description Length, Search Attributes, and Sort By.

Page suggest is almost the same, but it lets you exclude CMS page:

Frontend

This is how the Extendware Ajax Search Magento extension works on frontend:

Final Words

Extendware Ajax Search provides absolutely new opportunities when it comes to Magento search. The extension completely revamps the default process, making it more informative and user friendly. As for the price, the extension costs $69.

Download / Buy Extendware Ajax Search Magento Extension