Many of your visitors are just browsing. These tips should help you quickly turn them into buyers. On-site search is probably one of the most neglected areas of conversion optimization. So, anyone dealing with it can easily gain a competitive edge. Based on a survey of 21 online stores, econsultancy.com found that stores that improved their internal search engine:

• Increased revenue. An effective search engine reduces the bounce rate and helps increase the average cart value. On average, 13.8% of the revenue came from users who use the search box, but in some cases, it was close to 40%.
• Experienced higher conversion rates, especially on mobile devices. On average, search visitors converted 1.8 times more than non-search visitors did.
• Ranked better on Google (due to lower bounce rates). On average, search bounce rates were 21%.

In this article, we’ve included 8 tips so you can easily get similar results.

Tip #1 – Reduce the number of failed searches

  Statistics show that, on average, 30% of searches end in no result. These visitors usually leave your site without buying.  The most common reasons for failed searches are:

• Product synonyms
• Spellings
• Misspelled words

Product synonyms You don’t want to lose a sale just because visitors are looking for “sofa,” and your products are listed as “couch.”     Spellings Only one space in the wrong place can spoil the user experience. In this example below, the user typed “iphonex” instead of “iphone X.”   Misspelled words Changing two letters = you lose buyers.      The best online stores can reduce unrelated pages to less than 10%, thus significantly increasing revenue. How? Regularly check your Search Terms Report on Magento admin (Reports > Search Terms) and deal with…

• Synonyms: Provide alternative terms that people may use to describe the same item. You can capture a broader range of search terms by entering the words, “sofa,” “davenport,” and “loveseat” as synonyms for “couch,” and direct people to the same page.
• Spellings: As you learn new terms (with spaces in the wrong place) that people use to search for products in your catalog, you can add them to your search terms list to direct people to the closest matching products in your catalog.
• Misspelled words: Use search terms to capture common misspellings and redirect them to the appropriate page. For example, if you sell wrought iron patio furniture, you know that many people misspell the term as “rod iron,” or even “rot iron.” You can enter each misspelled word as a search term, and make them synonyms for “wrought iron.” Even though the word is misspelled, the search will direct people to the page for “wrought iron.”

  This support article will guide you through the steps of adding search terms to your store. And, this one will help you reduce “no results” with 4 quick fixes.   PRO tip: Rapid Search handles spellings automatically, so it saves time and effort for your team. Also, it helps you deal with synonyms more easily.

Tip #2 – Optimize the “No results” page

  Despite Tip #1, there will always be a situation in which people find no results. That’s why you should provide something here. The most common tactic is showing the “No results” message. It’s better than nothing but you will most likely lose most of these visitors. It’s much better to show a “No results” message and alternative search terms, such as the Latest Products or Top Products, so visitors can continue browsing. How? Ask your Magento developer to customize the “No results” page with top product recommendations.

Tip #3 – Use filters on the “Search results” page

  After your visitors make their searches, they usually want to continue to filter your catalog (especially if you have thousands of products). Help your visitors find the products they want through these 5 most common filters:

• Product category
• Price
• Brand
• Color
• Size

How do you do this? Make these product attributes filterable on the “Search results” page.

Tip #4 – Highlight your search box

  The search box and search icon are clearly separated in the middle of the header. To make it more user-friendly, you can modify:

• The style of the search box: background color, border size, border color,  white space around the box
• The style of the search text: color, font size, font weight
• The default text in the search box (“Search…”) to something unique, such as “Search by product name, SKU or category”

How do you do this? Ask your Magento developer to modify your theme.  

Tip #5 – Help mobile users search for a product category

 

Navigating even a mobile-optimized category menu on smartphones is not easy

This site redirects visitors to a product category page, if they search for a certain main category name (eg.: notebook).

  According to a study, on smartphones, visitors preferred to use the search box over the category menu because of its simplicity. Most people search on mobile for general keywords, e.g. a product category (notebook) or brand (Huawei).   Help your visitors find the products they want by making the main category names searchable. Even better, your online store should redirect these visitors to specific category pages. How? Use 301 redirects when searching for category names.   PRO Tip: Rapid Search also recommends product categories on the search drop-down panel, too.  

 

Tip #6 – Recommend search ideas if the search box is empty

  Some of your visitors don’t know what they want to search for. They click the search box, but they leave it empty.      Don’t let your visitors leave, because this is a good opportunity to recommend:

• Popular search terms and keywords for 60-70% of your first-time visitors who are just browsing your site
• Popular categories for shoppers
• Popular products for impulse buyers

How do you do this? Enable search recommendations so Magento’s built-in search box can recommend keywords here.   PRO Tip: If you want to get better results, use Rapid Search—which recommends not just search terms when the search box is empty, but also popular products and categories. And if your visitor types some characters, Rapid Search helps them with auto-complete:  

Tip #7 – Make your search experience mobile-friendly

  Most of your first-time visitors use mobile devices, and you have only one chance to make a great first impression.   How can you do that? Ask your Magento developer to makes these changes for you:  

• Make the full search box visible also on mobile devices

• Use full-screen search experience to improve mobile conversion.

PRO Tip: Rapid Search makes your search experience mobile-friendly.  

Tip #8 – Use the search engine to expand your product range

    Your visitors will also be looking for products that you don’t sell. So, you can keep up with the new trends and get new product ideas.   PRO Tip: Rapid Search can help this process with all-time search statistics, so you take advantage of the search trends and overtake your competitors. Let Rapid Search skyrocket your online store’s conversion rates by optimizing your pre-built search box

• 200% increase in conversion rates made by search users
• 30% lower bounce rate
• 10X faster

         Show me more Source: https://econsultancy.com/is-site-search-less-important-for-niche-retailers