Issue
Search results include irrelevant or unintended products due to matches on category metadata (Category Names or Category IDs). This occurs when category fields are configured as searchable, allowing the search engine to retrieve results based on category-level terms rather than actual product attributes.
As a result, users may see products associated with promotional, campaign-driven, or broadly defined categories that do not accurately match their search intent.
Description
Disabling searchability for category-related fields helps prevent unintended matches between user queries and category metadata. In many implementations, category names or IDs often contain descriptive, promotional, or operational terms that are not intended to influence product discovery. However, if these fields are indexed as searchable, the search engine may still consider them during query matching.
For example, consider a category ID such as seasonal_clearance_electronics_bundle_offer. If category fields remain searchable, a user searching for “electronics” may receive results from this category—even if the products within it are not directly relevant to their intent (e.g., mixed bundles or clearance-only items). This occurs because the keyword “electronics” is present in the category metadata rather than in the actual product attributes.
As a result, search results may include:
- Products grouped under promotional or campaign-driven categories
- Items that only loosely match the query via metadata
- Landing pages or curated assortments that are not intended for direct search discovery
Disabling searchability for category fields ensures that search results are driven strictly by product-level data, leading to more accurate and relevant outcomes.
Dashboard Configuration Changes
To fully eliminate category-based matches from search results, the following fields must be configured as non-searchable:
- Category Names
- Category IDs
Disabling only one of these fields is insufficient. If either remains searchable, the search engine may still retrieve results based on partial matches from category metadata.
Key Considerations
- Turning off only the Category Names field will not prevent matches if Category IDs still contain searchable terms.
- Category IDs often include campaign or descriptive strings, which can unintentionally trigger search matches.
- Complete exclusion of category influence requires disabling searchability for both fields simultaneously.
Recommendation
Before applying this configuration in production, validate the changes in a staging environment (provided both staging and production have the same data - for better identical testing). This ensures that search relevance improves as expected and that no critical use cases are negatively impacted.