Filtering Your Search On a Retail Website

Unfortunately not all web stores or auction sites offer a proper filtering section, and some of them don't even have a search widget available. One of the auction sites that I like and that I've been using for a while - MadBid, could really use one, and I hope they will add one soon. The site that offer a search section though, can save you a lot of time when browsing for the items that interest you. But have you ever wondered how the search mechanism works? 

 

It's rather simple. Behind any search box in a website, there's a database comprising all the products listed on the website. Each item has records grouped in categories, regarding its name, description, manufacturer, photos, reviews etc. Once you submit a search, the database will quickly look through all the files related to the keywords submitted, and present you with a report. 

 

Now, the search mechanism may vary from a site to another. Some websites have a simpler one. For example, a flat-file database works similar to an address book. There's only one file for each product, with not many records. On the othe hand, ampler sites employ relational databases, with different tables related to different information. A database like this will have a table for manufacturer addresses, one for product information, one for photos etc. When a keyword is submitted for a search, info from each table is put together and presented to the visitor as a single page, or just a part of a page. 

 

So, how can you filter your search to save time when looking for an item you're interested in? 

 

First of all, you should use a unique keyword. And a "unique keyword" may be composed of one or 2-3 words. In general, with only one word typed in, you can only get a broad search and you will end up with multiple results. For example, if you type in "shoes", the database will present you with all the shoes in the webstore, or all the shoes categories. On the other hand, if you add another word to it, you can make it way more specific and your search will considerably narrow down, for example "Gucci shoes". This way, you will see only a few results, evidently for Gucci shoes. 

 

Now, a type of search similar to this should work on most sites. However, major sites allow you to use advanced searches such as: "Find me dark brown leather shoes that go well with any casual outfit".