Algolia search

Algolia is a search service. Connected to your marketplace, it shows suggestions under the search box while visitors type: matching listings, categories, locations and sellers, grouped, with the matching words highlighted.

Your marketplace’s own search keeps working without Algolia. Algolia adds the suggestions as you type.

Check your theme first

The Algolia suggestions only appear in themes that include them, which today means some of the older themes. The Nova and Marketplace themes don’t show them, so on those themes connecting Algolia has no visible effect. Check your theme on Design › Themes, and see Themes.

Connect Algolia

1. Create an account at algolia.com. The free plan is enough for most marketplaces. Choose a data region close to your visitors.
2. Create an application if Algolia hasn’t created one for you.
3. In the Algolia dashboard, open Settings › API Keys and keep the page open. You need three values: Application ID, Search-Only API Key and Admin API Key.
4. In your admin panel, go to Integrations and open Algolia.
5. Tick Enable Algolia and paste the three values into the matching fields.
6. Click Save.

All three fields are required when Algolia is enabled.

Setting	What it does
Enable Algolia	Turns the suggestions on in your theme and starts sending your data to Algolia.
Application ID	Identifies your Algolia application.
Admin API Key	Lets your site send listings and other records to Algolia. It is only used on the server, never shown to visitors. Keep it secret.
Search-Only API Key	Lets visitors’ browsers search your Algolia data. It is safe to be public: it can only search.

What is sent to Algolia, and when

Every hour, your site sends Algolia four sets of records, each kept in its own index in your Algolia application:

Index	Contains
yclas_ads	Published listings: title, description, category, location and link.
yclas_categories	Category names, descriptions and links.
yclas_locations	Location names, descriptions and links.
yclas_users	Members’ names and profile links. No email addresses or other contact details.

New listings show in suggestions within the hour after they are published.

Records are added and updated, but listings that are deleted or no longer published aren’t removed from Algolia. If old listings keep appearing in suggestions, delete the yclas_ads index in the Algolia dashboard; it is rebuilt with your current listings at the next hourly update.

Because the index names are fixed, use a separate Algolia application for each marketplace you run.

Turn Algolia off

Untick Enable Algolia and click Save. Your site stops sending data and the suggestions disappear. Your data stays in Algolia until you delete the application or its indices there.

Related guides

• General settings — the Search settings for your site’s own search.
• Themes — choosing a theme.
• Integrations — every service you can connect.