Implement Search & Categories

Nosto Search uses product and user behavior data from the Nosto Platform, so if you are implementing Nosto Search, first of all, you need to implement Nosto Platform to your website.

Your search engine will be ready after the Nosto representative enables the Search module for your account. Then you will need to integrate Nosto Search to the website.

Implementation methods

Search Templates

By using a pre-built template that can be customized to fully match a website's design using built-in code editor directly in https://my.nosto.com/. In the code editor, you can fully customize the pre-built template's JavaScript, HTML, and CSS code. Changes to the template can be implemented either by client’s developers or Nosto team. Frontend integration uses Preact and JSX templates and renders search results page dynamically in website’s frontend, so no additional integration is needed to the backend. When using Nosto services, no development is needed from the client.

Using Search Templates

API

API integration - a robust Search GraphQL API allows to implement Nosto Search into any website or app and gives complete flexibility for developers to build frontend and backend features.

Using the API

JavaScript Library

For frontend integrations you can also use our JavaScript library. This library wraps the Search GraphQL API and provides its functionality in a programmatic way.

Using the JavaScript Library

Compare implementations

	Search Templates	API	JavaScript Library
Can be implemented by Nosto team	Yes	No	No
Expected time to launch live	1-3 weeks*	4-8 weeks	3-6 weeks
Headless compatible	Yes	Yes	Yes
Fully customizable frontend	Yes	Yes	Yes
Customized and managed only in Nosto dashboard	Yes	No	No
Suitable for complex use cases	Sometimes	Yes	Yes
Merchandising rules applied automatically**	Yes	Yes	Yes

* This estimation is based on the merchant's team building the templates. When Nosto's frontend team builds templates via the Code Editor, this can take longer due to overall bandwidth from the team.

** Matching merchandising rules are applied automatically based on requested search queries, categories, and segments, without the need to request them in API requests.

If you are looking for a fast launch without much effort we recommend going with the fully customizable pre-built templates. This type of integration does not support full API access but comes complete with an out-of-the-box search result page and autocomplete templates that can easily be customized to match most website designs and integrate even advanced custom functionality.

If however you need full control over the search frontend or require complex custom functionality we recommend to go with the API or JavaScript integrations. These integrations do not provide out-of-the-box templates but provide direct access to the Search API, allowing you use the data in whatever way is required for your use cases.