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More Information

Search > Search Features > Suggestions

Use the Search > Search Features > Suggestions page to perform the following tasks:

• Exporting query suggestions
• Exporting a suggestions blacklist
• Importing a suggestions blacklist
• Enabling suggest sources
• Resetting suggestions

About Query Suggestions

With query suggestions, search queries auto-complete and query suggestions appear as a user types in the search box. By default, query suggestions are created from search logs by using the terms entered in previous searches, as well as user results. Optionally, you can select which sources the search appliance uses to create query suggestions, as described in "Enabling Suggest Sources."

The search appliance automatically refreshes query suggestions every 24 hours and keeps them for 90 days. If you delete the matching document from the index or reset the index, the query suggestion continues to appear, even though the suggestion does not return results. You can discard all previous suggestions and create them from logs that are generated after you click Reset, as described in Resetting Suggestions.

You can see which query suggestions the search appliance is using by exporting them. When you export query suggestions, the search appliance creates a file that contains an inventory of all query suggestions. Using the options on this page, you can export query suggestions for:

• Collections--All collections or just a selected collection
• Front ends--All front ends or just a selected front end

You can also select one of the following options for the format of the exported query suggestions file:

• xml--Provides a structured inventory of query suggestions
• txt--Provides an unstructured inventory of query suggestions, with one suggestion per line

About the Suggestions Blacklist

The search appliance also has a suggestions blacklist, which contains words that are excluded from query suggestions. If you want to change the blacklist, you can use the options on this page to perform the following tasks:

1. Exporting the suggestions blacklist.
2. Importing suggestions blacklist to the search appliance.

Suggestion blacklist can contain regular expressions conforming to RE2 syntax.

For example, the following list:

^book$
gem
[0-9]{5}
car[0-9]{4}

would exclude any of the following suggestions:

book
algemi
gd1233443ui
car7345abcd

Take note that suggestions are always in lower case so blacklist entries should be in lower case.

Activating Query Suggestions

To activate query suggestions on the search page, enable them for a front end by using the Output Format tab of the Search > Search Features > Front Ends page as described in "Changing the Appearance and Behavior of the Search Box." However, it is not necessary to enable query suggestions before exporting or importing them.

Exporting Query Suggestions

You can export the search appliance's query suggestions for all or selected collections and front ends by using the options under Export Suggestions. The Export Suggestions options export all search queries regardless of whether suggestions are enabled in a given front end.

To export query suggestions:

1. Select a collection from the menu or accept All Collections.
2. Select a front end from the menu or accept All Front Ends.
3. Select a file format from the menu.
4. Click Export.
5. Open or save the file.

Exporting a Suggestions Blacklist

You can export the search appliance's suggestions blacklist by using the options under Export Suggestions Blacklist.

To export a suggestions blacklist

1. Click Export.
2. Open or save the file.

Importing a Suggestions Blacklist

You can import a suggestions blacklist by using the options under Import Suggestions Blacklist. The suggestions blacklist file must be a plaintext file, have a .txt extension, and contain exactly one entry that you would like to blacklist per line. Google recommends using RE2 regular expressions to evaluate each entry. For exact matches, use ^term$.

To import a suggestions blacklist:

1. Enter the filename of a suggestions blacklist file or click Choose File and navigate to the correct file.
2. Click Import.

The imported suggestions blacklist overwrites the existing one.

Enabling Suggest Sources

The search appliance can generate suggestions from all the following sources:

• Search logs, which record user requests for information from your index
• User results, user-added search results for certain keyword searches

By default, the search appliance creates query suggestions from query logs and user results only. By selecting the options listed under Enable Suggest Sources, you can change which sources are used.

To select suggest sources:

1. Under Enable Suggest Sources, click the checkbox for each source that you want to use for generating query suggestions.
2. Click Save.

To disable a source, clear the checkbox and click Save.

Resetting Suggestions

Occasionally, you might want to regenerate query suggestions, for example if they include unwanted or bad words. You can regenerate suggestions at any time by resetting them. When you reset suggestions, the search appliance generates new suggestions and presents them after 24 hours.

To reset suggestions, click Reset.

For More Information

For information about query suggestions, see "Providing Query Suggestions" in "Creating the Search Experience: Best Practices," which is linked to the Google Search Appliance help center.