Search settings page in admin -> settings -> search allows you to configure the search functionality across your site. You can choose between different search providers and import records into the search index.
Several search methods are provided by default. Here are the available options:
Database (Default): This is the default search method and uses your site's main database to handle searches. It does not require any extra setup. It's a good option if there are limited amount of records to search, but can be slow with more records.
If you stick with the default database method, you can choose how thoroughly it searches:
Basic: This is the fastest but most limited mode. It only finds results that start with the exact words you type.
Extended: This mode finds your search term anywhere it appears, even in the middle of a word. It's more thorough but can slow if there are many records.
Fulltext: This is the smartest database mode. It uses a special search index to find things instantly, across all records. It's still not as fast or powerful as a dedicated search engine though.
Meilisearch: Meilisearch is a separate, high-performance search engine designed to be incredibly fast and smart. It provides a much better and more "modern" search experience, similar to what you'd expect from major websites.
TNTSearch: This is another powerful search engine. It's a great choice if your website is on a hosting plan that doesn't allow installing new software, as TNTSearch is built to work in more restrictive environments.
Algolia: Algolia is a cloud hosted search-as-a-service platform. It's easy to setup however it is not free.
If you are able to install meilisearch on your server, it's the recommended option.
Full-text search methods provides a number of advantages over MySQL's database built-in search capabilities. These include:
More relevant search results: Full-text search engines can index all of the words in your records, which allows them to provide more relevant search results.
Faster search results: Full-text search engines are much faster than MySQL's built-in search capabilities, especially for larger sites.
More features: Full-text search engines provide a number of features that are not available in MySQL's built-in search capabilities, such as typo tolerance and synonym support.
After changing the search method, you will need to import existing records into the search index. This can be done by clicking the Import now button. Depending on the number of records in your database, this may take some time. Do not close settings page while the import is in progress.
All newly created records or modifications to existing records will be synced automatically.