Site Search 360

Avantages

SiteSearch360 is incredibly powerful and flexible, and is able to handle a ridiculous amount of filtering criteria quickly without breaking a sweat. Pretty much everything I wanted to do I was able to do, and that's saying something, since my site has tens of thousands of pages, and possibly that many different taxonomy entries as well. The ability to search for relevant books by reading level, category, author, etc. all at the same time and in real time is MAGIC compared to the old MYSQL-based search queries we were using.

Inconvénients

There are a few small things that the software can't do, such as ordering books in a series numerically in search results. Also, in order to set things up I had to learn how to extract and shorten XPaths, which was a bit of a learning curve. But once I got used to it, I fell in love with the ability to make a data point out of any HTML element via XPaths, so overall I'm still very happy despite the learning curve because of the power I now wield to make ANYTHING into a data point.

Alternatives envisagées 

AddSearchOpens in a new tab

Pourquoi passer à Site Search 360

Two reasons. Firstly, because SS360 was MUCH cheaper than pretty much anybody else. :-) But it wasn't all budget concerns that sealed the deal for me; the software is really high-quality, and can do everything I wanted it to do. All of the other site search services either felt like overkill, or they were targeting a different kind of customer that was larger, more bureaucratic, or more commercial. SiteSearch360 was the perfect fit for our site, and I couldn't be happier!

Avantages

I manage sites that feature a great deal of content that is pulled from outside the wordpress database. This means the standard wordpress search (which isn't great as standard), is pretty much unusable. I have just switched to sitesearch360 from another similar product and found setup was easy (although I did set it up first on their site, then had the again in the Wordpress plugin). I like the way the results are displayed and filters can be included if you point to ID's in the code, which may need some template changes.

Analytics are good within Sitesearch360's interface and integration with Analytics is simple, unlike our previous installation which I never got to work.

Inconvénients

There isn't much to say about what I liked least. Things I did find was setting up on the site wasn't necessary as you then have to run through the same process in Wordpress. Also, if you have multiple installs you need to login via the site project name and not your user email, which caught me a couple of times. Lastly I wish the filters could pick up wordpress tags and categories rather than me having to set up ID's on the site, but really it's not that hard to do.

Avantages

I was trying to set up a search engine for a large number of PDF files, using Wix. It seems that Wix turns the URL of PDF files into a name that fits their protocols. But then, those files cannot be searched with the usual engines provided by Wix. (I plan to take this up with them soon.) I tried "outside" search engine companies and found Site Search 360. Although the implementation to Wix was not easy, the amazing support provided by SS360 was incomparable. Amazing. The software works extremely well, as a search engine should.

Inconvénients

I had only one issue, with a user that was using an obsolete version of their browser on their laptop. Otherwise, we have seen no issues.

Avantages

I built a website for my business, but I am not trained in web design. I received an email from Site Search 360 saying I could have a free trial of their search feature. I was able to add the feature to my website pretty easily, even with my lack of experience. I had a few questions for customer service and they answered my questions within minutes and helped me customize the search feature for my site. I noticed an immediate improvement in visitors to my pages. I love that I can see what visitors are searching for.

Inconvénients

I was nervous when I saw that my monthly plan said no customer support, but they still answered emails within minutes.

Avantages

Easy to work with, looks great on my site and works fast, free for small sites, knowledgeable and friendly customer support. Dashboard to check searches - brilliant