Search FAQs

First, check what type of category it is: only custom content and topic display categories are indexed for search. Default, blog, and URL redirect are not currently searchable.

Second: if it's a custom content category or a topic display category, check if the Exclude from search results box has been checked.

Third: If the box isn't checked but the category still isn't showing up in search, go to Settings > Search and see if the category (or its parent category) has been set up as an Excluded category.

You don't need to add keywords to your articles for your content to be searchable. By default, we indexed your title, body, permalink, meta description, search phrases, and PDFs. Your articles should be searchable by any word you use in your content.

If you have a keyword or search term that doesn't appear in your article (or you want to boost the relevance of an article for a certain keyword), you can use search phrases. Search phrases are like keywords in that they are hidden from the reader but indexed for search. You can boost the weight given to search phrases under Settings > Search.

That's not a question, but we have an answer! You can use synonyms to ensure that both versions of word bring up the same search results. When you set up a synonym for your hyphenated word, use a space instead of a hyphen since that is how we store it in the index.

For example, we have an article called "List of Sub-processors" but searching for "subprocessors" didn't work. 

When we index your content, hyphenated words are split on the hyphen. This stores them as two separate tokens, which is why the search for the single word doesn't work.

To fix this, we created a synonym. Since hyphens are stripped, we needed to store the original word as "sub processors" (no hyphen) which is how the word is stored in the index. 

• Original word: sub processor (sub-processor replacing the hyphen with a space)
• Synonym: subprocessor

Once we reindex with the synonym, my search for "subprocessor" now finds the "sub-processor" article. By adding a synonym called "subprocessors", we told the term that these two words have the same meaning.

Google Custom Search Engine allows you to create a custom search engine for your knowledge base powered by Google. It's free, but you are required to show ads unless you are a non-profit or a school. If that's not a dealbreaker for you, you can also monetize your knowledge base using Adsense.

You can learn more on Google's Custom Search Help or create a custom search engine here.

Implementing Google CSE in KnowledgeOwl

To integrate Google CSE in to your KnowledgeOwl knowledge base, you'll need two things:

1. A page to hold your CSE code
2. A search form to send your readers to the search page

Creating a page to hold the search results

We recommend using a custom content category for your custom search. This will provide a nice blank canvas for the search input and results to be displayed. You can check the option to hide the category from navigation so it doesn't show up in your navigation.

You can drop your CSE JavaScript snippet directly into the body of the category. Using the Standard element type is the easiest to implement, though you may have to do a bit more work to override Google's default styles if you'd like a branded search form. 

Now's a good time to pause (and save), and check out your new search page! Click View Category at the top of the screen to see your custom search page in action.

Adding search forms to your homepage or articles

Allowing your readers easy access to this search page is the next important piece of the puzzle. At its simplest, this could be set up with an ordinary hyperlink to the category page ("Click here for our search page").

You can go a step further by using an HTML form instead of a hyperlink. This will allow you to add a textbox, and pass the reader's search terms as a query string to your search page. Google CSE automatically picks up queries embedded in the URL, so seamlessly integrating this new search capability anywhere in your knowledge base becomes a snap!

Below is an example of how this search form might look.

<form action="/help/search-results/" method="get">
   <input name="q" type="text">
   <button type="submit">Search</button>
</form>

Three important things to note:

1. The form action points to the URL of the search "category page".
2. The form method is "get".
3. The text input name is "q".

The text input name you can actually change to whatever you'd like, be sure to make the necessary adjustments to your Google CSE code, so it knows to look for the query string by that variable name.

By including a form like the one above on your homepage or in your top navigation, your readers will now have easy access to your Custom Search Engine!

You can exclude one category--and all of its contents--from search automatically using our Exclude category from search setting.

You can also always exclude individual articles from search using the "Exclude from search results" checkbox in the article.

When you create an article using the option to Share content from an existing article, it is considered a "child" article (the original is considered the "parent".) By default, child articles are excluded from search.

To enable child articles to show up in search:

1. Go to Settings > Search.
2. Next to Shared content articles, uncheck the box next to Prevent child articles from being searched.
   Prevent child articles from being searched checkbox
3. Save.