The turbo boost for your shop search

The challenge of Shopware's standard search function

The search function is one of the most important features in any online shop. For many customers, it is the direct route to the product they want. However, the standard search function in Shopware 6 has limitations that can impair the shopping experience. This often results in valuable conversions being lost.

How does the Shopware search function work?

The standard search function in Shopware 6 is based on a product index that searches product names, descriptions, properties and other product data. When a customer enters a search term, matching products are found and displayed in the search suggestions (Search Suggest). The system uses relevance scoring and attempts to display the most suitable products first.

The fundamental problems with the standard search

The Shopware standard search has structural limitations:

1. Restriction to products

The search suggestions only show product results. Categories, landing pages or thematic overview pages are not taken into account, even if they would be more relevant to the search query than individual products.

2. Limited control over search results

Shop operators have only limited options for prioritising or highlighting certain results for specific search terms. Relevance is primarily determined algorithmically, without the possibility of incorporating strategic business decisions.

3. No thematic bundling

There is no way to direct customers directly to thematic collection pages that present several related products.

How do customers really search?

The search behaviour of online shoppers often follows different patterns than those envisaged by technical product searches:

Thematic searches

Customers often search for themes and occasions rather than specific products:

• ‘Halloween’ instead of ‘Pumpkin decoration set item no. 12345’
• ‘Boys' shirts’ instead of a specific shirt model
• ‘Barbecue party’ instead of individual barbecue utensils
• ‘Office furniture’ instead of ‘140 cm oak desk’

Category-based searches

Many users enter category names because they want to browse a product area:

• ‘Sports shoes’ – interest in the entire category, not just the top hits
• ‘Women's winter jackets’ – desire for an overview of the range
• ‘Baby toys’ – exploratory search within a theme

Seasonal and event-related searches

On certain occasions, customers search for overarching themes:

• ‘Christmas presents’
• ‘Valentine's Day’
• ‘Back to school’
• ‘Garden party’

In all these cases, redirecting to a curated overview page or category would be more helpful than a list of individual products that happen to contain the search term in their name or description.

The solution: BepoTurboSuggest

The BepoTurboSuggest plugin adds precisely this missing dimension to the Shopware search function. It enables shop operators to place categories, landing pages and even individual products in the search suggestions in a targeted manner.

How does BepoTurboSuggest work?

1. Flexible search targets

The plugin introduces the concept of ‘search targets’. A search target can be:

• A category
• A landing page
• A specific product

Each search target can be linked to any search terms.

2. Search term matching

You can define multiple search terms for each search target. The plugin uses an intelligent prefix match algorithm: as soon as a customer types in one of the stored terms, the corresponding target is displayed in the search suggestions.

Example:

• Search target: Category ‘Halloween Shop’
• Search terms: ‘halloween’, ‘pumpkin’, “spooky”, ‘horror’
• Result: As soon as the customer types in ‘hall’ or ‘spooky’, the Halloween category appears prominently in the suggestions

3. Prioritisation

Each search target is assigned a priority value. This gives you full control over which results appear at the top. High-priority targets are displayed before lower-priority ones.

4. Visual highlighting

Search targets are visually highlighted:

• As eye-catching button elements (btn-primary styling)
• With optional image (e.g. category image or landing page header)
• With title and teaser text
• With an arrow icon for a clear call to action

5. Sales channel-specific

Each search target is assigned to a sales channel. This allows you to use different search strategies for different sales channels or languages.

6. Multilingualism

The plugin fully supports Shopware's translation system. You can maintain titles and teaser text individually for each language.

Technical implementation

BepoTurboSuggest integrates seamlessly into the Shopware architecture:

Event-based extension

The plugin uses the SuggestPageLoadedEvent to extend the standard search results. The existing product suggestions are retained and supplemented with the search targets.

Efficient database queries

The SearchTargetLoader service performs optimised database queries:

• Prefix filter for fast matching
• Filter by active targets
• Filter by sales channel and language
• Sorting by priority

Clean code architecture

• Proprietary entities with DAL integration
• Translatable fields via translation entities
• Service-oriented architecture with dependency injection
• PHPUnit tests for core functionality

The advantages at a glance

For shop operators:

1. Strategic search control: Direct your customers to important categories or promotional pages
2. Thematic bundling: Link search terms to curated overview pages
3. Seasonal marketing: Create landing pages for events and link them to relevant search terms
4. Prioritisation: Decide for yourself which results appear first
5. Multilingualism: Different titles and teasers for each shop language
6. Easy management: Convenient administration via the Shopware backend
7. Performance: No negative impact on search loading time

For customers:

1. Faster searching: Direct navigation to thematic overview pages instead of individual product hits
2. Better orientation: Visually highlighted category and landing page suggestions
3. More relevant results: Curated content complements algorithm-based product hits
4. Visual assistance: Optional images support orientation
5. Clear descriptions: Teaser texts explain what customers can expect on the landing page

For conversion:

1. Higher click-through rates: Prominently placed buttons with clear calls to action.
2. Reduced bounce rate: Customers find what they are looking for more quickly.
3. Cross-selling potential: Lead from specific searches to broader categories.
4. Seasonal sales increase: Use trending search terms for event campaigns

Practical application examples

Scenario 1: Seasonal event

You run a party shop and have created a landing page for ‘carnival items’:

• Create a search target for this landing page
• Add search terms: ‘carnival’, ‘costume’, ‘dress-up’, ‘mardi gras’, “helau”, ‘alaaf’
• Upload an attractive header image
• Write a teaser: ‘Discover our colourful selection of carnival and fancy dress costumes’
• Set the priority high (e.g. 100)

Result: As soon as customers type in ‘hello’, your Halloween landing page appears prominently, even before individual costume products are displayed.

Scenario 2: Category promotion

You want to promote your ‘Sustainable Products’ category:

• Create a search target for the category
• Search terms: ‘sustainable’, ‘organic’, ‘eco’, ‘environment’, “green”, ‘fair’
• Teaser: ‘Our selection of sustainable and environmentally friendly products’
• Medium priority (50)

Result: Customers looking for sustainable options land directly in the curated category instead of random products that mention ‘organic’ in the description.

Scenario 3: Product focus

You have a new flagship product that you want to highlight:

• Search target: Specific product
• Search terms: Product name, main features, related terms
• Priority: Very high (150)

Result: The product appears prominently highlighted, even if other similar products exist.

Installation and setup

Installation is very simple:

1. Purchase the plugin from the Shopware Store or install it as a Composer package
2. Install and activate the plugin: Either simply in the admin area or via command line bin/console plugin:install --activate BepoTurboSuggest
3. Open the new menu item ‘Turbo Search Suggestions’ in the Shopware backend
4. Create search targets and link them to search terms

No template customisation required – the plugin automatically extends the existing Twig templates.

Conclusion

BepoTurboSuggest closes an important gap in Shopware's standard search function. It gives shop operators back control and enables them to guide customers to the most relevant content – be it categories, landing pages or specific products. 

Investing in better search functionality pays off immediately: customers find what they are looking for faster, the user experience improves, and ultimately the conversion rate increases. 

Especially in conjunction with seasonal campaigns, thematic landing pages and a well-thought-out content strategy, BepoTurboSuggest becomes a powerful tool for more sales and happier customers. 

BepoTurboSuggest is available in the Shopware Store and can be installed in your Shopware 6.6+ or 6.7+ shop in just a few minutes.

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