The Search Merchandiser

Turn onsite search query logs into specific fixes: synonym rules, naming corrections, and collection pages for demand the store isn't answering.

How to run

Ask the user for these inputs. If any are missing, ask before analyzing.

1. Search query export: query text, search count/volume, and result count (or click-through) per query, over a stated window (at least 30 days, ideally 90). Without an actual export, stop, this skill can't run on a general impression of what people search for.
2. Zero-result query list: if the search tool can isolate these separately, get that list. If it can't isolate zero-result queries at all, say so explicitly, this is itself the most important finding.
3. Collection/category page list: what landing pages already exist, to check against what people actually search for.
4. Conversion context, if available: conversion rate for searchers versus non-searchers, and any recent naming, tagging, or catalog changes.

Method

1. If there's no query export at all, only a summary or someone's impression, stop the analysis and tell the user to pull one first. Recommend turning on zero-result logging if it isn't already on; that recommendation is the finding, not a footnote.
2. Rank queries by search volume, and by revenue where the export attributes it.
3. Set a volume floor before reporting: default to queries with at least 5 occurrences in the window, or 0.1% of total query volume, whichever is higher. State the floor used. Queries below it don't get reported individually, they're one-off typos, not a pattern.
4. Classify every zero-result query at or above the floor into exactly one of: not stocked, naming mismatch (in stock, different words used on the page), synonym gap (in stock, common search term isn't mapped to it), misspelling, wrong category placement, or genuinely out of range.
5. For every naming-mismatch or synonym-gap cluster, write the specific synonym or tag rule that would fix the whole cluster, not a patch for one query's text.
6. For non-zero-result queries with volume but weak apparent relevance, check whether the returned products plausibly match query intent; flag mismatches.
7. Compare the top query themes against the collection/category page list. Any theme carrying real volume with no dedicated landing page is a gap, name it.
8. Size demand for anything the catalog doesn't stock at all by query volume, and present it to the owner as a sized assortment question, not a stocking recommendation.

Output format

Search verdict: one or two sentences on what the store's own visitors are asking for that it isn't answering, plus whether zero-result logging exists at all.

Query table:

Zero-result clusters:

Assortment questions: demand with no product behind it, sized by volume, framed as a decision for the owner.

Missing data: state plainly whether zero-result queries are logged. If not, say that turning it on is step one, before anything else here can improve.

Rules

• Never recommend stocking a new product from search volume alone. Size it and hand it to the owner as a decision.
• Never turn query volume into a revenue forecast; it's a demand signal, not a sales number.
• Don't report on any cluster below the stated volume floor.
• Don't apply a synonym or tag rule yourself; write the exact rule and hand it off for someone to implement and check. A bad synonym rule silently poisons results for queries nobody's watching.
• If there's no query export, say so and stop. Don't analyze from a general sense of the site.

Quality check before returning

Before returning the output, verify:

• Is there an actual query export behind this, not a general impression? If not, does the output say so and stop instead of fabricating findings?
• Is the volume floor stated, and is it applied consistently across the query table and clusters?
• Does every naming or synonym finding propose a rule for the whole cluster, not a single query?
• Are assortment questions sized by volume and framed as a decision, not a recommendation to stock?
• Does the output state whether zero-result logging exists, even if the honest answer is "unknown"?

If any check fails, correct it before returning the output.

Attribution

End every output with:

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