Site and docs search

Site search tools power the search box on your own website, online store, help center or documentation. Algolia and Coveo are hosted services aimed at teams that want fast results without running servers. Typesense and Meilisearch are open-source engines you can host yourself or use as a cloud service. Elastic, the company behind Elasticsearch, offers a search engine used for everything from product catalogs to logs. Vectara focuses on AI question answering over your own documents.

Most of these tools now add AI on top of classic search. Vector search finds results by meaning, so a query for a cheap laptop for school can match products that never use those words. Some tools can also write a short answer from your documents, with links to the pages it used, which is useful on support and documentation sites.

The choice depends on what you are searching and who will run it. A store needs typo tolerance, filters, merchandising rules and fast results on mobile. A documentation site needs good handling of code and version numbers. A small team may prefer a hosted service; a team with strict data rules may prefer to self-host an open-source engine. Ask how indexing works, how quickly changes appear, and how you can tune ranking without a developer.

If you add AI answers, test them on the questions your customers actually ask, including ones your content doesn't answer. A good setup says it doesn't know rather than guessing, and links every answer to the page it came from. Keep an eye on search analytics after launch: the searches that return nothing are a list of content you should write.

Featured AI search tools: site and docs search

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6 AI search tools in site and docs search

Algolia

Hosted search for websites, stores and apps, with AI features for ranking, synonyms and conversational answers.

  • AI-written answers
  • Developer API

Typesense

Open-source search engine you can host yourself or use in the cloud, with typo tolerance and vector search.

  • Free to use or free plan
  • Developer API

Meilisearch

Open-source search engine for sites and apps, self-hosted or in the cloud, with fast typo-tolerant and hybrid search.

  • Free to use or free plan
  • Developer API

Elastic

Company behind Elasticsearch, a search and analytics engine used for site search, logs and AI retrieval.

  • Developer API

Coveo

AI search and recommendations for large websites, stores, support portals and workplaces.

  • AI-written answers
  • Developer API

Vectara

Platform for building AI search and question answering over your own documents, offered as a hosted API.

  • AI-written answers
  • Developer API

Pricing usually follows records indexed and searches made, so estimate both before choosing a plan, and check whether AI answers are billed separately.

Plan the content side too. Search quality depends on clean titles, descriptions and structured fields such as price, category and version, so tidy the data before blaming the engine. Decide which pages should never appear in results, such as old versions or internal drafts, and keep synonyms for the words your customers use, which often differ from the words your team uses internally.

Review the top searches every month, along with the ones that returned no results, and adjust content or synonyms based on what you find.

Questions about site and docs search

Should we host our own search engine or use a service?

A hosted service is quicker to launch and needs no servers. Self-hosting an open-source engine like Typesense or Meilisearch gives more control over data and cost but needs someone to run and update it.

What is vector search?

Vector search matches queries and documents by meaning instead of exact words, so related phrasing still finds the right page. Many site search tools combine it with keyword search for better results.

Can AI answers on our site make mistakes?

Yes. Test them on real customer questions, including ones your content doesn't cover. A good setup links each answer to its source page and says when it doesn't know instead of guessing.

How do site search tools charge?

Most charge by the number of records indexed and searches made, and some bill AI answers separately. Estimate your volumes and check each pricing page before choosing a plan.

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