How to write product titles and descriptions (for top findability)
Have you seen the clip below that explains how optimised on-site search works? Even though it’s over a decade old, it still rings true – especially for stores using basic search tools. If you’re reading this, your search function basics are probably in place. This guide offers practical tips to boost site search performance by improving your product information.
How does site search work?
Here’s a quick refresh: the search algorithm hunts for matching query text – more matches = higher relevance. Smart search functions also pick up stems, corrected typos, and partial matches.
Keep this in mind as you apply the tips below without getting bogged down in technical details.
‘Let’s KISS’: Keep It Short and Specific
So how can you optimise your product text to improve findability? Remember this acronym: KISS: Keep It Short and Specific.
It may sound counterintuitive, but long text is less effective than short, specific text. The search algorithm considers the length of the text to determine the relative importance of keywords. When you use a long product description, if the keyword is mentioned only once or twice, it will not stand out. Reduce boilerplate text, such as a generic description of the product or product family listing, because it brings down the rating. If you think it’s relevant, you can include this in a separate attribute that you include in the product datafeed (e.g. short description vs long description).
Similarly, a frequently seen ‘mistake’ is listing information on other (related) products. This will make the key product less relevant to the search query and, in many cases, will cause the related products to be ranked higher. Use a separate attribute (e.g. related products) in your feed for which you can configure the search weight to be lower than the product description.
So, practically, what should you do? Make your title and description specific to the product and, if possible, unique to it by using terms such as the serial number or the full product name. Also, e.g., unique attributes, collections, and combinations of (unique) attributes.
An example
A visitor searches for “Nike Air Jordan”. The algorithm will search for all 3 terms and their combinations. To ensure that the latest Nike Air Jordans are shown first, make sure that the title includes the full 3-word term. All other Nike Air shoes or even Nike shoes will be shown at a lower position.
That doesn’t sound too hard, does it? Well, the example above is pretty simple, but when you sell 20 types of O-rings, imagine all of the variations in size and material you may have. You may be inclined to name them all “O-ring” and list the size or material as separate attributes. You should certainly have separate ‘size’ and ‘material’ attributes, and ensure that all 20 variants have unique titles. This way, the correct result for a ‘Teflon 16mm O-ring’ will be shown first, and the user does not have to filter separately on material or size.
Datafeed optimisation
I can hear you thinking, doesn’t the onsite search software allow me to search on a combination of attributes? So why do I have to put them (also) in the title? Yes, you can certainly include any product attribute in your searchable fields, as long as you have them defined in your data feed. But what if you have tens or even hundreds of attributes? Including them all will make your search algorithm cast a very wide net, meaning that a Teflon non-stick pan in your catalogue will also be found on par with the Teflon O-ring.
Remember KISS? This goes for product attributes as well: make them specific and unique (where possible). Also, use consistent attribute values, meaning that the colour grey is always grey and not 50 shades of grey :-). We strongly recommend using the Google Merchant Feed definition for your XML data feed. This is a widely used definition with a clear, consistent hierarchy (taxonomy) that is supported across the industry.
It will help you structure your data feed, optimise search results, and serve the Google Shopping feed as well. Oh, one more thing on attributes. Search algorithms work best with natural language, meaning real ‘human’ text. That’s what they’re designed for. So instead of using codes or acronyms for colours, sizes, and features, use plain text (e.g., “blue”, “large”, etc.).
“Help! I see 10 versions of the same item! How do I fix this?” We get this question a lot. The answer is to use our grouping feature. This allows you to have all individual items in your feed, so that they are findable. Yet, grouping will only show 1 item out of the group. For grouping to work perfectly, this must be properly defined in the data feed. All products have a unique identifier, and grouped products have a separate attribute indicating they belong to a specific group (‘assoc ID’, or association identifier). This is defined in your CMS and tells Search which products to group.
Ensure each group member has the same set of attributes with consistent values. For example, when you’re grouping by colour and size, make sure all variants have these attributes consistently filled in. This will allow the algorithm to find all red dresses in size medium and show just 1 item per group.
Pants or trousers? The optimal use of synonyms
Everyone uses their own words to describe certain items or characteristics, and so do your visitors. Synonyms are meant to solve this ambiguity by having the algorithm search for synonyms of the words that you use throughout your text.
So when you use ‘sneakers’ consistently, the algorithm can find them when people type ‘trainers’, ‘sport shoes’, ‘tennis shoes’, etc. Here, it’s important to say that a version of the same word is not a synonym. So plurals or singulars, or separate words instead of a single term are not synonyms. Our search algorithm will solve most of these issues for you! Synonyms are meant to account for the different terms people use to refer to the same thing.
Here are some important tips on how to use synonyms:
Make them specific
Generic synonyms (e.g. ‘shampoo’ = ‘hair product’) will result in many more (and less relevant) search results.
Avoid using short, 2-3 letter synonyms
In many cases, this will generate too many hits and reduce the search relevance.
Match what you’ve written in your catalogue
Don’t start copying a thesaurus on the Internet. Synonyms are intended to match visitor search queries to your catalogue text.
Circular synonyms will boost to infinity, and beyond
When ‘jeans’ matches ‘Levi’s’ and further on in your list you want to match ‘Levi’s’ to ‘straight jeans’, the algorithm will replace ‘jeans’ with ‘Levi’s’ and substitute this with ‘straight jeans’, and so on. This will cause a strong boost to items that include jeans, even if a ‘jeans jacket’ is searched for, because all variants of Levi’s straight jeans will be shown first. By the way, our software warns you when a circular synonym is used, so that you are informed and can take measures to prevent it.
On the Search dashboard you will find the top queries without results
These are the exact words people use to search for an item when they don’t get a result. These are the perfect guidelines for creating appropriate synonyms. Just hit the plus icon next to it to add it to synonyms. Just make sure to consider all of the above advice!
We discussed how to write your texts (KISS), how to define specific and unique product attributes, how to structure your datafeed, and how to avoid flooding your search experience with variants of the same product, and we gave some great tips to improve your search conversion by using synonyms.
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