The Case for Building a Custom Search Results Page on Your Website
One of the most powerful pages on your website, the search results page is no longer just a list of pages for users to sift through – it’s an opportunity.
Key takeaways
- Your search results page (SERP) is one of the most visited pages on your site, and one of the biggest opportunities to guide visitors.
- Search templates get you live in days to weeks. Custom-built SERPs give you full control over how results look and work.
- A custom SERP lets you match your brand, control what ranks, and add facets, filters and rich results.
- It also grows with you, so new features like AI answers can slot right in.
Your website’s search results page, or SERP, is a digital gateway for visitors to navigate your content. It’s an easy way to enrich the digital experience while serving visitors your most valuable content.
A custom SERP goes beyond standard search functionality. While templated search solutions provide a quick fix, there’s an undeniable allure to the bespoke: a tailored experience that aligns with the uniqueness of your brand and speaks directly to the needs of your visitors.
In this blog, we’ll discuss the compelling case for building a custom search results page that goes beyond the basics and embraces the future of search. Let’s begin!
Types of search results pages
When it comes to designing a search results page that meets your organization’s needs, there are two ways to go about it: using a search template or custom building.
Search templates
Search templates are a useful option when you have limited resources and budget, but still want to offer a great search experience. Templated search is a straightforward search results page with a set layout, such as one category and a basic description for each result.
A benefit of using search templates is that you can have your search up and running in days to weeks. You can still style a template to fit your site’s design, but the layout and features are largely set, so there are fewer options to customize how your results look and work.
New: Cludo Studio
Want a template that looks like your own? Cludo Studio lets you design your search results page without code. Style the search bar, layout, facets and results, preview it with your real content, then get the implementation code with your design built in.
Custom-built search
When you want to provide an enriched search results page with robust functionality, custom building is the way to go. With a custom-built search page, the ways you can customize really are endless.
Custom SERPs are meant to showcase your content in a manner that is both visually exciting and streamlines the experience for your users. A custom-built search can display photos and videos, incorporate multiple categories, offer sorting and filtering options, and ensure no content is left undiscovered. With Cludo, you can have our team design, build and host a custom SERP for you, or have your own developers build one with React or our REST APIs.
| Search template | Custom-built SERP | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Teams that want great search, fast | Teams that want search built around their content |
| Time to launch | Days to weeks | Depends on your build |
| Look and feel | Styled to match your site in Cludo Studio, no code needed | Designed from the ground up |
| Layout | Set layout, one category per result | Any layout: photos, video, multiple categories |
| Who builds it | No code needed | Cludo’s team, or your developers with our React components or APIs |
To get a better understanding of the difference between each experience, watch this video:
Why build a custom search results page?
Tailor the search experience
A custom-built search results page acts as a guide that each visitor can tailor to their specific needs. Unlike search templates, customized search enables you to showcase specific types of content based on the unique needs and preferences of your audience. This personalized approach transforms the search experience from a generic scroll into a curated exploration, increasing visitor engagement and satisfaction.
Align your brand with the search results page
Long gone are the days of ads within search results or pages that resemble an external search engine more than your actual website. By opting for a custom design, you can ensure that the aesthetics, color schemes, and overall visual identity of your SERP seamlessly align with the rest of your website. This reinforces your brand image and enhances the user experience by helping establish trust with new visitors.
Control your search
Build a search results page that truly aligns with all your website has to offer. Prioritize what’s most important while deprioritizing content that may be outdated or irrelevant. With a custom search results page, you have the ability to control what content is promoted, included or excluded, ensuring that visitors are presented with the most appropriate information.
Put the fun in functionality!
A custom-built search offers more functionality than a simple search results page, making it a more enjoyable experience for your site visitors. Adding facets and filters takes search from exhausting to successful, while search suggestions and sorting options guide visitors who may not know exactly what they need.
How well does your results page work today?
Get an audit of how people search on your site, and where they’re giving up.
The benefits of custom SERPs
Any results page can serve a list of answers to sift through. A customized search results page is an opportunity to deliver a better user experience that aligns with your organization’s goals. A few benefits to building your custom search results page include:
1Avoiding the endless scroll
Visitors often have specific needs in mind when searching for information, meaning they want to find relevant content fast. Avoid the dreaded endless scroll by filling your search results page with ways to distill content. Categories and filters allow visitors to refine their search based on parameters such as date, type of content, location, price or other important attributes.
2Ongoing optimization, helping to improve the experience and meet your goals
A custom SERP allows you to future-proof your search functionality. You can easily adapt to changes in technology, visitor behavior or industry standards, ensuring that your search results page remains effective and relevant over time. For example, as visitors come to expect direct answers, you can add an AI Summary to the top of your results page, built only from your own content.
3Providing a more user-friendly, interactive experience
A well-designed and intuitive results page encourages navigation, making it easy for visitors to seamlessly interact with your content.
Customer storyHow the Chesapeake Bay Program built a fully custom, accessible search with Cludo’s API Read the storyCombining user experience with innovation
A custom-built search results page surpasses the limitations of standard templates, unlocking endless possibilities that align with your brand, captivating your audience and delivering a user-centric experience.
As your website evolves and your content library grows, consider the value of a personalized approach: one that elevates your search results page from a mere utility to one of the most effective pages on your website.
Ready to build the SERP of your dreams? Request a custom search demo today!
Build a results page worth visiting
Book a demo and see what a custom Cludo search results page could look like on your website.
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