Quickstart
Learn how to use Algolia’s search and discovery tools to provide users with swift and relevant search results. To see how Algolia works, sign up for a free account and try out one of the demos below. You can also set up your own custom search experience.
Demos
Algolia offers three starter demos:
| Demo | Data source | UI | Extensible? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Onboarding | Built-in | Simple/simulated | No |
| Quickstart assistant | You choose | Simple | No |
| Bootstrap | You choose | Intermediate | Yes |
Onboarding demo
Create an Algolia interface in just two minutes with the two-minute onboarding demo. It includes selecting a dataset, sending data to Algolia, adjusting relevance, and creating a basic user interface.
Quickstart assistant demo
When you create a new Algolia account, the Quickstart assistant on your dashboard will guide you.
- Choose New to Algolia to begin the demo. Alternatively, click Indices in the dashboard’s sidebar, click the UI Demos tab, and then click Generate a new demo.
- Follow the prompts. You can use your data, the data provided by the assistant, or import the data used in the ‘Bootstrap’ demo.
- Complete the fields you require and Save.
- Click the eye icon next to your newly saved demo to preview it.
Bootstrap demo
Each InstantSearch library has a “bootstrap” demo, which walks you through:
- Installing and setting up a pre-built project
- Adding a search box and results display
- Adding UI elements like filters and pagination
- Styling your search results.
API clients
After installing an API client, try running a short program that adds a record to a test index, searches your index, and prints the results.
Create your own Algolia experience
To create a basic Algolia experience, you need to:
- Create an Algolia index
- Prepare your data for Algolia
- Upload your data using an Algolia API client, no-code connector, CLI, Crawler, or dashboard)
- Create a search UI. The InstantSearch and Autocomplete libraries simplify this process for developers.
To keep your index current, ensure you have a process for updating it as your content changes. If you’re using Algolia’s no-code connector or Crawler, they will handle these updates.
Testing and refinement
By learning to interpret analytics, fine-tune relevance settings, and gather user feedback (with events), you can significantly improve the performance of your Algolia implementation.
Search relevance
Algolia has built-in tools to fine-tune relevance. The most important ones are:
- Set searchable attributes to control what Algolia searches and in what order.
- Use custom ranking to adjust relevance to your needs.
Use analytics to review search effectiveness
Evaluate your search effectiveness by reviewing your analytics for popular and “no results” phrases. You can also use A/B testing to test relevance adjustments.
Capture user behavior to see what happens after the search
Often, search isn’t a standalone goal: it’s an aid to achieving broader aims. For example, the aim of an ecommerce site may be to increase sales, increase profits, or drive a particular product range. By capturing user behavior (events), you can see what happens after they have performed a search and determine if the search implementation has helped achieve your goals.
Next steps
Explore these resources to learn more about Algolia:
