Search

Search, facet and sort with Drupal Search API and Sajari.

Drupal search overview

Aim

Allow users to search and filter data using facets. Support for scalable search over massive datasets. Smart searches with support for boosting, typos, autocomplete and synonyms.

Approach

Identify the specific search needs and align with a solution which complements those needs. Drupal Search API and Sajari SaaS are two possible options.

Outcome

A fast and effective solution allowing users to explore large corpuses and find the information they need.

Drupal search solutions

Search is possibly the most used and expected service to be found on websites. Users will often turn to the search box on your site before exploring the information architecture you have carefully crafted for them. Moreover, users will often prefer to use Google Search than interact with a site which is not delivering on findability!

Search will therefore be a vital feature on sites which have enough scale to make browsing the content impractical. Getting it right is a important for the success of the site.

The right foundations

The success of a search solution is not just down to the technology being used to deliver the search results. The chances of success are increased when the following foundations are in place:

  • The right content: A content strategy needs to be in place and delivered on. Does your site have the information your users are looking for. Are the right keywords on the page and given the correct prominence?
  • The right structure: Faceted solutions will rely on on data being categorised and classified in consistent, cross cutting ways. Good factors must be "mutually exclusive" and "collectively exhaustive". Designing the content model with this in mind will ensure that the content can be filtered properly.
  • Indexing all the things: All of the relevant content on the page should be indexed, including the content in components and associated metadata. What the search engine sees may not be everything the user sees.
  • Excluding unnecessary things: Some content is not suitable for the search engine. Removing whole content types or individual pages can help with the results.
  • Extending with keywords: Sometimes a page may be about a certain thing but the keyword doesn't appear on the page. It is helpful to have the capacity for editor to augment the content with keywords.

Full functionality

Users will also be expecting features such as:

  • Autocomplete for search terms
  • Synonyms
  • Typos

The right solution

At Morpht we generally recommend one of the following two solutions

Search API: Drupal comes with a very capable search solution called Search API. It is a framework for integrating in search backend such as the database backend or Solr. Solr is a highly scalable solution based on Lucene which provides strong full text and facetting capabilities. If you are looking for a Drupal based solution this is the most reliable way to go.

Sajari: Sajari is a AI powered SaaS solution which offers a number of advanced features for those looking for extra control over boosting and curated search results. Sajari is able to track the results users click on so that the engine is able to learn which results users favour and then promote those for a better search experience.

 

Frequently asked questions

Drupal supports enterprise search through Apache Solr, providing full-text search with faceting, content boosting, binary file indexing, date-based relevance scoring, and autocomplete. Morpht enhances this foundation with AI-powered search improvements including Sajari integration, regime-based result filtering (adjusting results based on user context), confusion matrix analysis to remove false positives, and search performance analytics. For complex government sites with large content volumes, well-configured search is often the single highest-impact improvement in user satisfaction.

Basic search handles simple keyword matching well, but large content repositories (thousands of publications, forms, fact sheets) typically need faceted search, relevance tuning, and synonym/typo handling to be genuinely usable; this is where dedicated search solutions (like Apache Solr integrations, common in enterprise Drupal builds) earn their cost over core search.

Search is often the safety net for weak IA. When users can't find something through navigation, they turn to search, so a site with strong faceted search can partially compensate for imperfect navigation structure, though the two should ideally be designed together rather than search being an afterthought.

Yes. AI-assisted search (semantic/natural-language search rather than pure keyword matching) is an active area of Drupal development, and can meaningfully improve findability for content-heavy sites where users don't always search using the exact terms content authors used. Though it needs to be implemented with the same accuracy and governance scrutiny as any other AI feature on a government site.

Insights

Improving search with regimes
Article

Improving search accuracy with regimes

In a previous post, we looked at how search can be improved through the use of a confusion matrix and the removal of false positives. This article takes the thought process a step further by looking at how context or “regimes” can be used to further improve results.
Simple confusion matrix
Article

Improving search relevancy with a confusion matrix

Site owners and users naturally want the best, most relevant search results to be delivered to them. This article provides a framework for the evaluation of search results and offers suggestions on how results can be improved.
Haystack in a field, with a needle hidden inside
Article

Perfecting Search with Search API

Search is a core competency of most websites, however, so often it doesn’t perform the way users desire. It’s possible to get good results from Search API in Drupal with a rigorous approach and a bit of fine tuning.
world aids day 2023
Case study

World AIDS Day

Morpht supported the Department of Health and Aged Care with a contemporary new website for World AIDS Day, in record time for World AIDS Day 2023. Providing a contemporary look and feel with improved content models and site search.
IPEA hero image
Case study

Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority (IPEA)

Morpht was able to provide IPEA with a new website on the GovCMS SaaS platform, upgraded to Drupal 9 and allow site editors to import all reporting data without the need of external help. The site also has a greatly improved page speed and a new design and interface which maximises the findability of Parliamentarian expense reports.
TGA scientists in lab
Case study

Therapeutic Goods Administration

The TGA are now celebrating a brand new site on GovCMS. With a contemporary look and feel underpinned by consistent structures and familiar patterns, this site is now the foundation for the next stage of the digital transformation the TGA is undergoing.
Open folder.
Article

Better user and editor experience - exploring open data on GovCMS

IPEA is a government authority tasked with the management and reporting of parliamentarian expenditure. In this case study we will show how the Migrate and Solr modules were used to solve scalability and performance challenges by providing a user and editor friendly solution.
A colourful image representing analytical data visualisation
Article

Get ready for Google Analytics updates

Google Analytics has recently introduced a new update. As a result of this update, Universal Analytics (the current system) will be retired on 1 July 2023.
Frequently asked questions
Article

Boost Drupal SEO with FAQPages

Boost your Drupal SEO rankings by adopting a question and answer format for your content and utilising FAQPage markup.

Related content

Drupal personalization
Topic

Drupal personalisation

The solid foundations provided by Drupal can be taken to the next level with personalisation and customization.
Information architecture
Service

Information architecture

SItemaps and content models support the needs of the user and help them discover the information they are looking for.
Accessibility
Service

Accessibility

We’ve delivered some of the most accessible sites for the most demanding of customers.
Content modelling
Service

Content modelling

Drupal is a powerful system under the hood and is capable of the most demanding content modelling needs.