Overview of On-Site Search Technologies from 1990s to Now

When it comes to e-commerce websites, almost nothing is more important for IT, sales, and marketing professionals than understanding how buyers search for and find products.

A review of how on-site search originated, how the technologies evolved, and where they stand today can help e-commerce companies make informed decisions regarding their platforms, in-house programming options, and vendor solutions.

Major site search technologies and companies

There are many companies involved in search technologies, some focusing on core technologies, and others building services on top of these core technologies. To keep this article shorter, only a few systems will be covered here:

• Apache Lucene
• Apache Solr
• Elasticsearch
• Swiftype
• Algolia
• AWS CloudSearch
• SLI Systems
• Google Site Search

1. Apache Lucene search

Released in 1999, this advanced search engine “building block” provides analysis, tokenization (breaking text into sentences and words), indexing, spell checking, highlighting, and more.

Lucerne, without any middle-ware, is complicated to use for site search. It is mostly unreasonable for an e-commerce company to attempt this.

2. Apache Solr search technology

Five years after it debuted, Lucene, Apache released Solr. Based on Lucene, this server application provides an API that makes Solr much easier to integrate with all types of applications, including site search.

Many developers believe that Solr is a nightmare to learn and use. Although Solr is somewhat DevOps-friendly (server admin), there’s a steep learning curve, and even a strong team of developers will need months, if not a year, to build a good internal site search using this software.

3. Elasticsearch

In 2010, software developer Shay Banon created Elasticsearch, a server application based on Lucene, as an open-source program. Elasticsearch provides an API that is easier to use than Solr.

While the application can be challenging to learn, most developers come to love it once they master it. I’m one of them. It takes just as long to build a real e-commerce search with Elasticsearch as it does with Solr, but it is more DevOps-friendly, and one can start playing with it almost immediately.

Solr and Elasticsearch have become the standards in the site search space, with a number of search-as-a-service providers building their applications on top of these systems.

4. Swiftype on-site search service

Swiftype was created in 2012 as a “search as a service” application based on Elasticsearch. It took two more years of development before it was ready for widespread release and use.

Swiftype works as a plug-in for popular e-commerce systems and can be integrated into any site with multiple pages.

It’s difficult to adjust how Swiftype ingests data, making it difficult (but not impossible) to tune it for B2B e-commerce sites. Once a developer learns the application, it’s easy to make it look and feel like the pages are a part of your website.

5. Algolia on-site search service

This application has a similar history to Swiftype. The company was founded in 2012, and its “search as a service” application was released in 2014.

Algolia is similar to Swiftype in almost every way, except that it’s most likely not based on Elasticsearch. It has a nicer API for pushing data into the system, but it’s harder to make the integration seamless.

6. AWS CloudSearch on-site search service

Based on Solr, CloudSearch is another “search as a service” application. Originally based on A9, Amazon’s proprietary technology, this application wasn’t popular with developers, but has since morphed into something very similar to Algolia.

AWS CloudSearch is harder to set up and work with, as documentation/help is lacking in completeness.

7. SLI Systems’ on-site search service

Founded in 2001, this application was made to integrate easily with almost any e-commerce website. I think it has somewhat poor front-end customization options (because it integrates with anything), making it impossible to create a seamless customer experience.

It’s great for marketing teams because it provides many ways to customize results (e.g., boost products, synonyms, etc.) and, after initial setup, it doesn’t require additional work from website developers. SLI provides plenty of support and handholding during setup, but it feels and works like an outdated system.

8. Google Site Search

GSS is easy to integrate quickly into a website, but it has limited customization options. This makes it difficult to generate pages that appear to be part of your website.

9. Other site search services

There are multiple other “search as a service” providers, including companies such as SearchSpring and BloomReach, which can also be worth considering for your e-commerce site’s search.

Site search as a service providers normally charge $500-$5,000 per month to use their technology, and offer support for your team in integrating their search services into your infrastructure.

Other information to consider when upgrading e-commerce systems

• E-commerce and search databases, technologies and data considerations
• Product information management systems benefits and things to look into
• Smart search auto correct technologies and considerations
• Basic price strategies and common price management systems issues

Is Steersman the right partner to upgrade your e-commerce and website search?

Steersman can help you get an all-in-one business automation system with a built-in advanced e-commerce front end to run your operations and production, report and analyze financials, manage all product information, and serve your catalog to clients, allowing them to purchase online.

How to get Steersman’s advanced e-commerce site search

Steersman Search comes as a component of Steersman Business Suite, an all-in-one business automation system

Work with Steersman directly or through your web agency to set up Steersman Business Suite and website SaaS. Front-end design, layouts, and coding can be handled by Steersman or a capable design and implementation partner firm.

~ by Art Shipulin, CTO at Steersman