When you search in the platform, the search engine searches for matches in a variety of different places across the platform. The displayed search results are divided into the following:

• All Results
• News
• People
• Pages
• Forms & Surveys
• Calendars & Events
• Files
• Apps & Links
• Integrations: Google Drive, Microsoft 365, Service Now, Box, Confluence

The search indexes the platform's contents, so that when you search, results can be quickly scanned and ranked. Learn more.

Yes. Open groups offer a wealth of information. However, the flood of information can get out of hand if a user subscribes to too many open groups. Instead, 'open content' can be made available to all users via search. This means that users can still find content from open groups in their search results, even if they are not members of the respective group. Contact your Customer Success Manager or Staffbase Support for more information.

The search algorithm uses several factors to rank content.

One key signal is term frequency, but repeating a keyword more than eight times has only a minimal additional effect on ranking.

To improve your content’s visibility in search results, Staffbase recommends:

• Including important keywords in titles, page descriptions, and teasers for news posts
• Keeping titles short and concise
• Updating content regularly, as newer content receives a ranking boost

Page descriptions help improve search visibility by allowing you to add a descriptive text that displays on the search results page. Matches found in the description rank higher than those on the Page itself, so it is important to include relevant keywords in the description. Clear, concise descriptions make it easier for users to quickly find the most relevant content.

1. In the Studio, navigate to Content > Pages > the page you want to add a description to.
2. Click the gear icon.
   The Common Settings page opens.
3. Under Content Description, add the description.
4. Click Save.

The search flyout displays the five most relevant content pieces and the four most relevant users matching the search query. If available for your organization, the flyout additionally shows search integrations with matching results.

The search function also allows for partial search. This means that if you begin typing a word, predictive results will begin to appear and be narrowed down with each letter you add. 

You can also quickly revisit your five most recent searches. They display when you click into the search field before entering a new term.

Apply filters to your search results to narrow your search and find content that is relevant to you.

Under the News tab, you can filter by:

• Channel
• Hashtag
• Published by

Under the People tab, you can filter by any profile field enabled as a filter. Learn more about configuring profile fields as filters.

Under the Pages tab, you can filter by hashtag.

Under the Files tab, you can filter by:

• File Type
• File Location

Additionally, you can select a time frame or sort results by different options based on the opened tab.

• Microsoft 365
  
• Google workplace
  
• ServiceNow knowledge articles
• Confluence
  
• Box

Yes. Once you have searched for a term and selected a page from the search results page, a dialog will display at the bottom of the page prompting you to begin the on-page search.

If you want to see exactly where your search term appears on the page, click Show Results and all occurrences of your search term will be highlighted, so you can find them easily.

Yes, you can search for content within all text-based file types. When searching for the term "countries" in the example below, the file displayed in the result is shown, even though the title does not contain the search term.

There could be a few reasons:

• Spelling and typos: Check your search term for typos or try alternative spellings and keywords for your search term.
• It could be that no content exists yet for the term you are searching for or that existing content has been deleted.
• If you’re searching something numerical, such as a phone number, be sure to use the appropriate formatting.
• Some content may only be available for specific device types.
• You may not have the required permissions to view certain content. 

Yes, as soon as new content is published in the platform, it will be immediately available in the search. 

Depending on the setup of your platform, using the search function often yields more results than navigating through the menu. Menus for mobile devices, for example, are often simplified to make menu navigation easier and less cluttered. It’s also possible for  you to find open group content, for groups that you are not a member of. Such ‘open content’ is then only accessible via search.  Depending on how your editors set up the menu, some contents may only be found by searching for them directly.

In the search results, a location path is displayed under the name of each piece of content. This shows where the content ‘lives’ as breadcrumbs. In the following example, the post can be found under the menu item “My Location” in the folder “News”. 

If platform contents are available in multiple languages, you can use search terms from any available content language. Your results, however, will display in the content language you have selected for your profile, if available. In this example, the user has set English as their preferred content language. That is why the search results display in English, although the search term itself is in German.

Yes, you can customize the search results page using the API. Learn more about available customization options.