Introducing Search Analytics: Know Your Users Better

This week we have released a much requested feature by our customers: analytics.

The importance of analytics to search

At Algolia, our goal is to revolutionize the way people search and access content inside the Web and mobile services. Think about Spotify, LinkedIn, Amazon: Everyone wants to find the right songs, people and products in just a couple keystrokes. Our challenge is to provide fast and meaningful access to all of this content via a simple search box. In March, we answered more than 200 million user queries for our customers on every continent.

Providing the right content through the right search and browsing experience is key. For our customers, understanding their users – what they like, what they want and when they want it –  is just as important, if not more. This is why we came up with this new analytics section, built on top of our API and available on our customers’ online dashboards when they log in to their Algolia account. So what exactly do we track for you?

We describe here some of the top features that are now available to all our users.

Most popular queries

In this chart, we show which items were most queried. It would be useful, for example, to a procurement department for anticipating their  most frequently-searched products’ inventory needs. And if you monetize your service through advertising, know what people are most interested in is especially valuable.

A new analytics feature supports the most popular queries.

 

Queries with no or a few results

Today, most services are simply clueless when it comes to what is missing in their content base. How do you know that your catalogue of products fits your users’ expectations? Knowing whether or not you provide what your users need is critical for your business.

 

How does a query evolve over time?

Is Chanel more popular than Louis Vuitton in the morning or at night? Are bikes more popular in June or in December? With this new feature, you can now answer such questions for your own content by following the number of times a specific query is typed on an hourly basis.

 

Which categories do people search the most?

When users type in a query, they often use categories to refine the results. We let you know which categories were the most frequently used for refinement. We even provide the most used combinations of categories (such as “dress“ + “blue” + “size M”). It should help you understand how your users browse your content and has broader implications if the ergonomics of your app is optimized.

These new analytics features are included in our existing plans at no extra cost. The number of days when our analytics tools are available vary based on the plan you choose. We hope you will like it, and we will be more than happy to read your feedback and feature requests!