How to install the Prefixbox AI Search & Filter App
Log in to your Shopify account:
If you have multiple stores, choose the store in which you want to install the app.
When you have selected the store, log in to your account.
In the Shopify App Store you can find the "Prefixbox AI Searh & Filter" application: https://apps.shopify.com/prefixbox-search.
Select it then click on "Install".
Now, start the installation process by pressing the "Install" button.
Get started
Check our video tutorial, or you can read the detailed steps below:
You arrive to the "Activate Subscription" page, where you can see the available subscription plans. You can either start with the free plan, or immediately upgrade to a paid plan.
If you wish to start with the free plan, click on "Configure app".
If you have selected the free plan, the App will automatically start setting itself up. This can take 5-15 minutes.
While it's installing the modules, we recommend pinning the app by using the pin icon in the top right corner. This ensures that Prefixbox AI Search will always be visible in the 'Apps' section of your Shopify admin dashboard's left menu.
Once the installation is complete, the Prefixbox "Home" and menu will appear automatically.
Before the first use
At this point, if you check the search functionality on your store, you will still get Shopify's built-in default search. You need to finish setting up Prefixbox AI Search by activating all modules.
Activate modules
Click "Activate modules" on the main menu.
If you have multiple themes, select the one for which you'd like to activate Prefixbox AI Search. You can duplicate your current theme to create a copy theme to test how Prefixbox AI Search would look on your live theme after activation if you want.
Select the relevant theme from the dropdown menu in the top right corner.
First, activate "Prefixbox Integration" by clicking on the "+ Activate" button. You will arrive at your store's "App embeds" menu, where "Prefixbox Integration" should appear. Make sure that the toggle is turned on:
Click on Save in the top right corner of the page to save the embeds.
Now, go back to the Prefixbox Dashboard and make sure you have a green notification saying that your shop has been successfully connected with Prefixbox.
Next, return to the "Activate modules" menu, and activate all modules, just as you did with the first one. Be sure to always click "Save" in the right corner in your Themes menu.
At the end of the process, the Activate modules page should look like this:
Test your online store
After each module has been activated, go to your Theme's "Customize" menu and switch to the Search page at the top:
In the left-hand menu, under "Template," click the eye icon next to "Search Results" to hide it. This will deactivate Shopify's built-in search, allowing only the new Prefixbox Search to appear.
If everything is configured correctly, you should see the Prefixbox Search Engine populated with products and filters in the theme editor's "Search" page.
If you don't see your products, check whether your product feed has been synchronized under Product catalogue menu - Sync history.
If your product feed has been synchronized, it will show a "Live" status. If you don't see it, click on the Force sync button to manually update your feed and wait a few minutes. Learn more about the Sync feature here.
Home
On the home page, you find a configuration overview, a short overview of the menu structure and features.
Product catalog - Manage your fields, product feed and out-of-stock products.
Enrich your product catalog by adding custom metafields. Decide if fields should be searchable, filterable, sortable.
Go to Product catalog > Fields.
Use Force sync for every change to go live.
To display out-of-stock products go to Product” catalogue > Stock management.
For more details check this section
Filters - Manage your filter settings, add new filters
Go to Filters. Add a new filter, or edit the existing ones and save changes.
Follow this point.
Relevance - Optimize your search
Search weights
Customize your search results by assigning weights to standard and custom fields.
Go to Relevance > Search weights.
Fuzzy settings
Set typo-tolerance for your search.
Go to Relevance > Fuzzy settings.
For more details check this section.
Layout configuration – Customize your search design
Autocomplete layout
To modify the design of your Autocomplete box go to Layout configuration>Autocomplete layout.
Search&Collections layout
To modify the design of your Search&Collections page go to Layout configuration>Search&Collections layout.
For more details check this section.
Merchandising - Override your search results
Promotion overview
Highlight specific products you want to sell by setting up promotion rules.
Go to Merchandising > Promotion overview.
Redirect overview
Automatically send shoppers to predefined pages when they search for specific terms.
Go to Merchandising > Redirects overview.
Synonym overview
Enhance search relevance by setting up synonyms for search terms.
Go to Merchandising > Synonyms overview.
For more details check this section.
Activate or deactivate your modules.
Go to Activate modules.
For more details check this section
Check your account information, log out, cancel subscription.
Go to Account
For more details check this section
Product Catalog
Field Management
You can enrich your Prefixbox search index by adding custom fields, or change filterability, searchability and sortability of your standard or custom fields.
Custom fields can be metafields or product options.
To set them up, go to Product catalog and select Fields.
Standard Fields
In the first section you can see the Standard fields that were automatically created during the installation of the Prefixbox application. These are the default attributes of your products.
You cannot delete standard fields, you can only change their searchability by enabling or disabling the checkbox.
Go to Product catalog> Fields > Standard fields
Edit standard field, enable or unable the searchable checkbox (if possible) and save settings.
Metafields
In the second section of the "Fields" page you can assign metafields to your Prefixbox index, or manage your existing ones metafields.
You can not create new metafields to your product catalog, you can only use the already created ones under Shopify's Settings > Custom data > Metafield definitions > Products
Metafields help to enrich content and provide more detailed context, making it easier to manage and display unique attributes that aren’t part of the standard data structure. They are particularly useful for customizing user experiences or handling specialized business needs.
You might use metafields to include extra details like:
Product specifications (color, weight, dimensions)
Additional images or videos
Custom labels or tags
Specific shipping information
Watch our video tutorial on how to add metafields, or read the detailed description below.
Do not use special characters when naming these definitions in Custom data.
Not all metafield types are searchable, filterable or sortable. For example, only textual Custom data fields can be set to "Searchable" when setting up a new metafield.
Click on the "+Add metafield" button to add new metafields.
Make sure not to add a metafield that has the same name as one of your standard fields.
Set field parameters.
The “Namespace” value should be identical with the first part of the "Namespace and key" field of your custom data, e.g. “custom” by default.
The “Key” value should be identical to the second part of the “Namespace and Key” field of your custom data. (Custom data > Product > Product metafield definitions)
Example of custom data definition:
Metafield example based on the above mentioned custom data definition:
Save the new metafield.
Go to Product catalogue > Sync history.
Click on Force sync to synchronize your new settings to your Field mappings.
Wait 1-2 minutes till the latest Sync version changes to a "Live" status.
*On how to make your new metafield filterable, see description at Filters.
*If you modify the filterability of a field that has already been added as a filter, it will no longer appear in your store after synchronization. However, it will still remain in the application's list of filters.
Product options
Your products might have some custom options. These are the variants of your products that are added here:
These variants can be easily added to your feed. To add these product options:
Go to Product catalog> Fields > Product options
Here you can assign all the existing options of your products:
When you have added your product options, go to Sync history and start a synchronization by pressing the Force sync button. The assigned product options will be added to your feed and they will be filterable by default, but this does not mean that they will appear as filters on your store.
If you want to use these options as filters, you need to go to Filters and add them one by one. All the options that you previously saved can be added as filters.
Sync history
Sync history can be accessed under Product catalog. Here you can check the status of your product feed at Product catalog > Sync history and collection feed at Collection catalog > Sync history.
Product feed syncronization
Make sure to use Force sync whenever you change your field settings or you add a new collection to your collections.
On this page, you can do the following:
check the latest versions of your product feed, and see which version is live
start a new synchronization process by clicking the Force sync button.
By default, the search engine automatically updates your product catalog within a day (or less). The frequency varies based on your plan. The products that are not active, they are set to 'Draft' in your store, will not be synchronized. See this setting of your product in the picture below:
If you've updated your products and need an immediate sync, you can trigger the process manually, too.
After successful synchronization go to your store.
Check the search functionality on your store.
You can download a copy of it by clicking here:
Collection feed synchronization
Whenever you create a new collection, or new products are added to your existing collections, you need to synchronize both your product feed and your collections feed.
Go to Catalog settings > Collection catalog Sync history
Click on Force sync.
Stock management
Stock management can be accessed under Product catalog:
By default, your search will only display products that are in stock.
To display out-of-stock products, enable the “Display out of stock products” checkbox here and save the setting.
Go to your store and see if the out-of-stock products are displayed.
Relevance
Relevance enables you to optimize your search results. It can be reached from the main menu.
Search weights
You can access search weights settings under Relevance:
By default, the displayText field's weight is set to 'High', while the weights of all the other fields are set to 'None.'
Depending on how you wish to optimize your search results, you can prioritize fields by assigning custom weights to both standard and previously configured metafields that are searchable.
Select the fields where you want to modify the search weight. The available options are:
None: Weight is 1, the field will not be used.
Low: Weight is 1.5.
Medium: Weight is 3.
High: Weight is 5, the highest possible value.
Set the field weights and save your settings.
Go to your store and check that your search reflects the field weights settings.
Fuzzy settings
Fuzzy settings can be used to enable spell correction.
Go to Relevance > Fuzzy settings.
Enable spell correction checkbox and click Save all.
Test fuzzy search on your store to make sure it works correctly.
Filters
On this page, you can edit or delete existing filters or add new filters.
Watch our video tutorial on filters, or read the detailed description below.
Filters allow visitors to narrow down search results based on specific criteria. By default, the Prefixbox app will display Price, Brand and Availability filters.
Only filters relevant to displayed products will appear.
For example, if a search returns a product that does not have the attribute "Brand" set, the brand filter will not be displayed.
After you have added metafields to your field mappings, you can make some of them filterable. However, not all the fields will be eligible for filtering.
Metafields that received a "Warning" during creation will not appear in the list of fields and, as a result, cannot be made filterable.
To assign the filterable attribute to your fields, follow these steps:
Go to Filters. Here you can see the list of filters. There are already three filters that have been automatically added when you installed the application: Price, Brand and Availability. These filters will appear both on "Desktop" and "Mobile" views. The Type, Field name and Label attributes of the filters are displayed as seen in the picture below:
You can edit or delete existing filters with the icons on the right. (Make sure to click "Save all" on the top right corner after you make any modifications). Wait a few minutes after editing/deleting a filter to see the modifications reflected on your store.
Choose between "Desktop" or "Mobile" view to add filters. By default, "Desktop" is selected.
Please note that filters must be set separately for each view. A filter created when Desktop is selected will only apply to the desktop view of your store.
To add a new filter click on the "+ Add filter" button.
The following window will be displayed where you can create your filter settings.
You must first determine the filter type in the 'Type' field. A filter can either be a 'Range filter', or a 'Value filter'. The 'Price' of a product should be a 'Range filter' while its 'Brand' should be a 'Value filter'.
To add a 'Range filter':
In the 'Type' field select 'Range filter'.
In the 'Display text' field add the text you wish to be displayed as the filter name.
In the drop-down list under 'Field', select the metafield you previously added to your fields. Only the fields that be added as "Range filters" will appear here.
If by any chance you need a new metafield, you have to go back to the “Product catalog” > “Fields” and add it first.
'Step' - determine the range filter slider step. The step size will determine the granularity of the filtering. Smaller steps allow for finer control, while larger steps may simplify the selection process but with less precision.
'Set container type' to determine how this filter will be displayed. This can be one of three types:
Simple
Toggleable 'Closed' checkbox - If you select 'Toggleable', you can decide whether the filter should appear opened or closed on the search results page. By default, your filter will be opened.
Dropdown-like 'Close After Action' checkbox - If you select 'Dropdown-like' you can decide whether to close the filter after action. By default your filter will remain open.
Add the new filter by clicking on “Add filter”.
To add a 'Value filter':
In the 'Type' field select 'Value filter'.
In the 'Display text' field, add the text you want to be displayed on your store.
In the drop-down list under 'Field', select the metafield you previously added to your fields. Only the fields that be added as "Value filters" will appear here.
If by any chance you need a new metafield, you have to go back to the “Product catalogue” > “Fields” and add it first.
Set 'Container type' to determine how this filter will be displayed. This can be of three types:
Simple
Toggleable 'Closed' checkbox - If you select 'Toggleable' you can decide whether the filter should appear opened or closed on the search results page. By default, your filter will be opened.
Dropdown-like 'Close After Action' checkbox - If you select 'Dropdown-like' you can decide whether the filter should close after action. By default your filter will remain opened.
By enabling the 'Search box for values' checkbox, your filter will be searchable.
'Filter value count type' - has two values:
'Show all values' - all the values assigned to the filter will be displayed.
'Show only a number of values' - The list of values will be collapsible. First, only a number of values will be displayed, the rest can be added gradually.
Add the new filter by clicking on “Add filter”.
Finally, click on “Save all” to save the changes.
Test your online store for changes.
*If you wish to display all the filters on your Mobile view as well, you need to add them separately for this view.
Layout Configuration
You can customize the design of your Autocomplete and Search&Collections page. This means that you can decide how products and filters will be displayed on both 'Desktop' and 'Mobile' views of your store.
Watch our video tutorial, or read the detailed description below.
The "Layout configuration" can be reached here:
Autocomplete layout - Display mode
The Autocomplete layout can be configured here. You have to set your Desktop and Mobile layouts separately, so first make your selection here.
The default settings of your Autocomplete after installation are the following:
Desktop - Autocomplete is enabled with Two column layout.
Mobile - Autocomplete is enabled with one column layout.
Autocomplete layout - Display settings
You can design how your Autocomplete should display the keywords, categories and products.
You can also give a title to your keyword, category and product suggestions and determine how many of each should be displayed.
In addition, you will find a list of fields that you can select from depending on which ones should be displayed on product tiles.
When you have configured all the settings, do not forget to click Save all in the top right corner:
The changes will be applied in a few minutes.
Desktop and Mobile layouts need to be configured separately.
Search&Collections layout
Customize your search and collection pages by adjusting your filters, adding sorting options and setting up products display.
Search&Collections layout - Display mode
Filters, by default, will be enabled on your search&collections page, but you can decide whether they should be displayed on top of the search results or on the left side of the page.
For Mobile view, you can only decide whether or not to display the filters.
By default, three filters will be displayed: Price, Brand and Availability. For the other filters to be displayed, they need to be created under Filters > Mobile view:
Search&Collections layout - Sort settings
On your serach&collections page, by default, your products will be sorted by relevance. The Sort by price option will also be enabled.
You can set a different order for the sorting options by using the drag and drop feature.
You can edit or delete your sorting options here:
Don't forget to save your settings here:
The same sort settings will be applied for the Mobile view.
Search&Collections layout - Display settings
Decide the number of products and columns to show on your search&collections page by setting up these fields:
The Number of products per page field applies to the Mobile view as well.
If you wish to determine in how many columns these products should be displayed, use this field:
Similarly to the Autocomplete view, decide which information should be displayed on your product tiles.
Select the fields that you wish to display on your product tile.
The HTML message that appears on your search&collections result and no-result pages can be edited here:
When you finish the layout configuration, don't forget to save your settings here:
Customize your Autocomplete
Your Autocomplete can either inherit the color settings of the selected theme or you can customize it by picking other colors, setting the font styles, customize container settings, image settings. You can also use a custom css to customize your Autocomplete.
To customize your Autocomplete go to:
Online Store > Themes > Customize
When the editor is open, look for the Prefixbox Autocomplete module. Make sure that the Show autocomplete in editor toggle is on (this makes easier to track the changes) and start configuring your Autocomplete.
Customize your Search page
You search results page can either inherit the colors of the selected theme or you can pick up your own font and background colors, customize font settings, number of products/row to be displayed, configure the product container and adjust product images. There is a possibility to use a custom css that can configure search with custom styles.
To customize your search page go to:
Online Store > Themes > Customize
When the editor is open, select the Prefixbox Search Results module and click on it.
Go to the panel on the right side of the screen and start configuring your search page.
Customize your Collections page
The same customization process can be applied to your collection page.
It can either inherit the colors of the selected theme or you can pick up your own font and background colors, customize font settings, number of products/row to be displayed, configure the product container and adjust product images. There is a possibility to use a custom css that can configure the collection page with custom styles.
To customize your collection page go to:
Online Store > Themes > Customize
When the editor is open, select the Prefixbox Collections module and click on it.
Go to the panel on the right side of the screen and start configuring your collection page.
Merchandising
Promote the products you want to sell and add synonyms to improve your search relevance.
Merchandising modifications will be reflected in your store in just a few seconds.
Watch our video tutorial on merchandising, or read the detailed description below.
Add a promotion
Ensure certain products appear at the top of the search results page (for pre-defined search terms) by creating a promotion.
To add a new promotion Go to “Merchandising” > “Promotion overview”.
Click on the “Add promotion” button.
The following window will be displayed where you can configure your promotion rule:
Name to your rule.
Set the start date. This determines when your rule becomes active.
Define search term(s). You can define more than one search term. To add new terms, just click on the "Add term" button.
Click in the Search field of the top right side of the window and select the products you wish to promote with this rule.
When all the products have been added, click on "Save".
Wait a few minutes for the changes to become active. Then go to your online store and check that the new promotion rule works.
According to the example, if you search for "hoody", the selected product(s) should appear first in your search results.
You can add a maximum number of 10 products to a promotion rule.
Add a redirect
A redirect rule will redirect your shoppers to a pre-defined URL whenever they execute a specific search query.
This can be useful in directing shoppers to informational pages. For example, if they search 'delivery' they will automatically be redirected to your content page outlining the delivery process.
You can add multiple terms to a certain rule.
To configure a redirect rule, follow these steps:
Go to Merchandising > Redirects overview.
Click on “Add redirect” button.
Name your rule.
Define search term(s). You can define more than one search term. To add new terms, just click on the "Add term" button.
Provide the redirect URL and save the rule.
Wait a few minutes for the changes to become active. Then go to your online store and test your new redirect rule.
According to the example above, if you now search for "delivery" and press enter, you should land at admin.shopify/com/store/teststore/delivery page.
Add synonyms
Adding synonyms can help improve search result relevance.
To add new synonyms, follow these steps:
Go to Merchandising > Synonyms overview.
Click on “Add synonym”.
Define the search term and keyword for the synonym.
For example, if you set "wrist jewelry" as the search term and "bracelet" as the synonym, searches for "wrist jewelry" will return the same results as for "bracelet."
Set direction. It can be one-way or two-way.
(Two-way would be if someone searches for "bracelet" they would get the same result as for "wrist jewelry", too.)
Save settings.
Wait a few minutes, then test it in your online store.
You can edit and delete existing Synonym rules with the "..." button
Change the currency format of your store
To edit the currency of your store:
Go to Settings>General>Store defaults
Read more about the currency formatting types here:
Account
Go to Account>Profile
Here you will find information about your profile and current plan, including its price and the payment due date.
If you refresh the page, you can see the total number of API calls performed in a month, allowing you to track usage and ensure it stays within the limits of your plan.
To change your current plan either click on "Change plan" or go to Account>Current plan.
Go to Account>Current plan.
Here you can see all the available plans including the current one. You can either upgrade the current plan or downgrade it, depending on your business needs.
You can read more about how to manage your subscription here:
Analytics
On this page, you can see you search analytics.
You can set and customize the timeframe of the reports at the top right corner.
You can find the definitions of the metrics in the Glossary below.
Glossary
Search ER
Short for Search Engagement Rate.
Description: The proportion of Unique Searches with any click or cart event.
Unique Searches
Definition: Unique search queries that returned results. The same search query is counted only once in a session.
Search CTR
Short for Search Click-Through Rate
Definition: The proportion of Unique Searches with any click or cart event. It only differs from Search ER that this metric only counts clicks, not cart events.
Search CR
Short for Search Conversion Rate
Definition: The proportion of Unique Searches with any cart event. It only differs from Search ER that this metric only counts cart events.
Search Success Rate
Definition: The percentage of product search sessions in which users engaged with (clicked or carted) at least one product on the Search Engine Result Page. This includes products in Related Product and Autocomplete modules.
This differs from Search ER, as Search Success Rate is based on sessions, while Search ER is based on Unique Searches, making the scope different.
Searches
Definition: Total number of search engine result pageviews where results were returned. Paging, sorting and filtering creates additional pageviews as well.
SERP Click events
Definition: Total product Click events on the Search Engine Results Page.
SERP Cart events
Definition: Total number of product Cart events on the Search Engine Results Page.
Search Session Count
Definition: The number of sessions that included at least one search event.
Zero Result Search Rate
Definition: The ratio of Zero Result Searches to Unique searches. It measures the proportion of searches that do not return any relevant information or matches.
Zero Result Searches
Definition: Search results pageviews where the search engine returned 0 results. Zero result searches has three types: Time-out, Filter and Not found.
Zero engagement searches
Definnition: The number of Unique searches where there was no engagement (click or cart) on the SERP in the given period.