Catalog quality and synonyms

Geeky Bot can only find what your product data says. Clear titles, categories, tags and attributes do more for search than any setting, and Custom synonyms cover the words shoppers use that your catalog doesn’t.

Product data that helps

Product field	How search uses it	Tip
Title	Strongest match. The whole phrase in a title ranks highest.	Name the product type: “Merino Wool Beanie”, not “The Aspen”.
Categories	Decide what kind of product it is. Category names teach Geeky Bot your product types.	Use plain product nouns (“Backpacks” under “Bags”). Avoid names like “New” or “Featured” as the only category.
Tags	Count towards what the product is, slightly below categories.	Add the other names you’d search for: a heel tagged “Party Shoes” is found by “shoes”.
Attributes	Colour and size filters come only from attributes. Other attributes are matched as words.	Use attribute names that say “Colour”/“Color” and “Size” so values are read as filters.
Variations	Every variation’s colour and size count for the parent product.	Fill in the variation attributes instead of putting them in the title.
Short description	Widens the match, and is part of what Smart Catalog reads.	Lead with what the product is and who it’s for.
Description	Widens the match only. It never makes a product count as a different type.	Put facts shoppers ask about (material, fit, compatibility) here or in attributes.
SKU	Matched as a word, and ranks high when it matches.	A shopper who types a SKU finds the product.
Price, sale, stock, rating, sales	Used for price, sale and stock filters and for ranking boosts.	Keep stock status accurate so “in stock” searches are right.

Products set to Hidden or Shop only in WooCommerce Catalog visibility, drafts and password-protected products are never shown. See How search works.

Add custom synonyms

Use Custom synonyms for words shoppers type that your catalog doesn’t use.

Open Geeky Bot → Product Search and go to Synonyms & ranking.
In Buyer search controls, find Custom synonyms.
Add one rule per line: what shoppers type, then =, then what your catalog calls it, separated by commas.
Select Save search settings.

comfy = comfortable, soft, cushioned
trainers = sneakers, shoes
not expensive = budget, affordable, low price

Rules to know:

The left side is the shopper’s word or phrase. The right side lists catalog words; any of them can match.
Synonyms widen a search. They never narrow it.
A line that starts with # is ignored, so you can leave notes.
The box holds up to 6,000 characters.
Your rules are added to the built-in synonyms (around 2,000 product words in twelve languages).
Saving clears cached search results, so the change applies to the next search.

To start over, select Default synonyms under Reset. This replaces your text with the three example rules. All search settings resets every setting in the card.

With Commerce Pro and an AI search level, Geeky Bot suggests synonyms from missed searches, and Add synonym writes the line here for you. See Search Rescue and learning.

Use the unanswered questions as a to-do list

Every product search that found nothing, and every question the chat couldn’t answer from your data, is logged while Save conversation history is on (for guests, Save guest conversations must be on too).

Open Geeky Bot → Conversations and select the Needs review tab.
Work through the Catalog data and Shopper wording items first. Each row shows the reason, how often it was asked, and a Recommended action.
Fix the product data or add a synonym.
Select Retest phrase to run the question in the Shopper phrase test lab on Geeky Bot → Product Search.
Select Mark handled, or Ignore issue from the ••• menu if it isn’t worth fixing.

Reason shown	Usual fix
No matching product	Review product titles, categories, attributes, stock, price, and common synonyms.
Product detail missing	Add the missing fact to the product description or attributes.
Product reference unclear	Make product names distinctive.

See Conversations and insights for the whole screen.

Test before and after

Open Geeky Bot → Product Search.
Type the shopper’s phrase into Shopper phrase test lab and select Test search.
Read how the phrase was understood and why each product matched.
Change the product data or synonyms, then test the same phrase again.

When to rebuild the index

You rarely need to. Geeky Bot updates a product’s index entry when you add, edit, trash or restore it, change its stock, or change its variations, and rebuilds by itself after you rename or delete a product category or tag.

Rebuild by hand:

after a large CSV or plugin import
if results look out of date

Open Geeky Bot → Product Search and go to Synonyms & ranking.
In Product index, select Rebuild search index.

The rebuild runs in the background. Shoppers keep searching the current index until the new one is ready. Synonym changes don’t need a rebuild. See Product search index.