Testing search in the Playground
The Playground answers the question every search manager asks: why is this product here, and why isn't that one? It runs Nucleo's search live on your real catalog as you type, shows the results as a shopper would see them, and explains how the query was read and why each product ranks where it does.
The Playground is the home of Search: go to Catalog > Search, or click Playground under it.
Run a test search
Steps
- In Nucleo, go to Catalog > Search > Playground.
- Optional: in the pill at the right of the search bar, select the language to search in.
- Type a query the way a shopper would write it. The results update as you type.
- Optional: switch between the grid view and the list view with the buttons at the top right of Results.
To start over, click the X in the search bar.
Search as a specific shopper
When you pick a shopper, the results are personalized with what their orders say about them, such as the size they keep. This lets you check what one of your customers would see.
Steps
- In Nucleo, go to Catalog > Search > Playground.
- With the search bar empty, click the shopper selector in the placeholder (Search as … would…).
- Search by order number or customer id, or pick one of the Customers with the most orders.
- Type your query.
The Personalized for this shopper box shows how many products and orders were read, the size the shopper keeps in each group, and how many results are in stock in that size. On the product tiles, badges such as M in stock, M for you or runs large show how size was taken into account.
To search as nobody in particular again, open the shopper chip and click Back to any shopper.
Read the results
The Results card shows how many products the search found and how many are shown. If you hide out-of-stock products, it also says how many were hidden.
- Click the filters button (it shows the number of filterable attributes in the answer) to open the facets next to the results. Click a value to add it to the query.
- In the list view, each row shows the position, the product and its signals: the relevance tier (T1 · Exact, T2 · Strong or T3 · Weak) and, when it isn't in stock, its availability (Low stock or Out of stock).
- Click a product name to open the product in the editor.
Check a search that finds little or nothing
The Playground shows exactly what a shopper would get when a query struggles:
| What you see | What it means |
|---|---|
| Did you mean | Chips with close alternatives and their number of products. Click one to run it. |
| Widen the search | The query found nothing; each chip removes one filter and shows how many products that would bring back. |
| No results for the full query — relaxed … | Recovery dropped a filter or the free text to find something. The message names what was dropped. |
| No exact matches | Nothing matched, and wider results are shown below with what they leave out. |
| Zero results, even after recovery | Nothing could be found. The query is a candidate for a synonym or for Enrichment. |
| Redirect | A redirect matched: instead of results, the search returns its target, a category or a URL. |
To learn how recovery decides what to drop, see Recovery when nothing matches.
Read how the query was read
The How the query was read panel, to the right of the results, explains the query as a whole:
- Understood as: the filters recognized in the query, as
attribute = valueorwithout value, and the words left as free text. - The steps the query went through, each marked changed, recovered or passed through. For what each step does, see The steps of a search.
text, the catalog doesn't know it. Add a synonym that points it to the right value.See why a product ranks here
Steps
- Run a search in the Playground.
- Click a product tile. In the list view, click the row.
- Read the Why it ranks here tab.
The tab explains the position first in plain sentences: how the product was found, what holds it where it is, and what orders it among its peers. Below, The details lists:
| Row | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Match | The tier, the fields where the words were found and the words that matched, or filters only. |
| Boost | The product's boost. Every product has the normal boost today. |
| Availability | In stock, low stock or out of stock, with units and sizes in stock. |
| Copy | Whether the text was written in the language you searched in, or comes from another language as a fallback. |
Ranking signals then lists each signal of the commercial score with its value, its weight and the points it adds, and the total Commercial score.
The Recommendations tab of the same window shows the alternatives to this product. See Recommendations Playground.
Ask a question with AI Mode
Steps
- In the Playground, type a query that reads like a question, such as
a warm jacket for a rainy city break. - When the line Looks like a question. appears under the search bar, press Enter.
- Read the answer. Under it, Searched lists the searches Nucleo ran to build it: click one to see it as a normal search.
- Optional: click a chip under Narrow down: to refine the answer, or type a follow-up in Continue the conversation and click Send.
- To go back to the grid, click Back to product results.
Considerations for the Playground
- Playground searches of three characters or more are recorded like any other search, so they can appear in Queries and in the hit counts of your synonyms and redirects.
- Your synonyms, redirects, facets and ranking settings apply to the Playground as soon as you save them.
- The Playground shows what Nucleo's search returns. Your storefront doesn't use Nucleo's search yet.