Search log audit
Your top failed, no-click, and slow queries, ranked by how often visitors type them.
The Problem
When Visitors Search Your Site and Leave With Nothing
Default site search matches exact words in titles. It works on day one, then fails as content grows, names get misspelled, and visitors search in their own words instead of yours.
01 · Typos
A misspelled brand name returns zero results.
Typo tolerance and synonyms built from the queries your visitors actually type.
02 · Wrong order
Old posts outrank the page people actually want.
Ranking rules boost fresh, popular, and in-stock records where they matter.
03 · Stale index
New pages take days to show up in search.
A sync pipeline updates the index whenever your CMS or database changes.
04 · No feedback
Nobody knows which searches fail every day.
Search analytics list failed and no-click queries for review each week.
A visitor types "wireles hedphones" into your search box and gets no results, even though you stock 40 pairs. Another searches "cancel plan" and lands on a blog post from 2021 instead of the help article. Your search runs a database LIKE query, so it ignores typos, plurals, and synonyms. Nobody looks at what people search for, so the same failed queries repeat every day. Each one is a visitor who wanted something you have.
We start with your search logs, not the engine. The most common failed and no-click queries show what to fix first. Then we pick the engine that fits your size and budget: Algolia, Elasticsearch, OpenSearch, or PostgreSQL full-text search. We build the index, keep it in sync with your CMS or database, and tune relevance with synonyms, typo tolerance, and boosts. Click events then show whether each change helped.
Search logs read first
The queries your visitors already type decide the synonyms, boosts, and fixes we make first.
Engine chosen on cost
Algolia, Elasticsearch, OpenSearch, or PostgreSQL, compared on price, control, and the effort to run it.
Clicks measure relevance
Click and conversion events show which searches work, so tuning follows evidence instead of guesses.
Our Site Search Implementation Process
From Search Logs to Search That Finds Things in Five Steps
You see the failed queries, the engine comparison, and the relevance test results before launch. Nothing replaces your current search until the new results beat it.
We read your search logs or analytics export and test your top 50 queries by hand. You get a list of failing searches, their likely causes, and an honest view of whether a simpler fix would do.
What's Included
What You Get With Elasticsearch Consulting Services and Algolia Implementation
Our Elasticsearch consulting and Algolia work covers the engine, the data feeding it, and the ranking that decides what visitors see first. Most projects include these six parts.
Compare Options
DeveloperLook vs Built-In CMS Search vs Search Plugin
Built-in search costs nothing and suits small sites, and a plugin installs in an afternoon. Here is how each compares once content grows and visitors search in their own words.
| Feature | DeveloperLookBest fit | Built-in CMS search | Search plugin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Typo handling | Typo rules and synonyms | Exact matches only | Basic, depends on plugin |
| Ranking control | Boosts and business rules | Newest or title match | A few preset options |
| Content types | One box, every type | Usually pages and posts | Often one content type |
| Search analytics | Failed and no-click queries | Sometimes, in paid tiers | |
| Setup time | 2 to 10 weeks | Already there | An afternoon |
| Engine choice | Algolia, Elasticsearch, or OpenSearch | The CMS database | The plugin's own service |
| Ownership | Index in your account | Your CMS | The plugin vendor's account |
| Cost | Fixed price from $1,200 | Free with your CMS | Free to monthly fees |
DeveloperLook
Built-in CMS search
- Typo handling
- DeveloperLook: Typo rules and synonymsBuilt-in CMS search: Exact matches only
- Ranking control
- DeveloperLook: Boosts and business rulesBuilt-in CMS search: Newest or title match
- Content types
- DeveloperLook: One box, every typeBuilt-in CMS search: Usually pages and posts
- Search analytics
- DeveloperLook: Failed and no-click queriesBuilt-in CMS search:
- Setup time
- DeveloperLook: 2 to 10 weeksBuilt-in CMS search: Already there
- Engine choice
- DeveloperLook: Algolia, Elasticsearch, or OpenSearchBuilt-in CMS search: The CMS database
- Ownership
- DeveloperLook: Index in your accountBuilt-in CMS search: Your CMS
- Cost
- DeveloperLook: Fixed price from $1,200Built-in CMS search: Free with your CMS
Projects We've Built
Content and Catalog Sites We Have Built
News, ecommerce, and e-learning sites from our portfolio with large catalogs or archives. They were site builds, and search was one part of each.
Deus News and Magazine Website Design and Development
- News & Media
- Website
Modeverse Ecommerce Web Design & Development
- Fashion
- Retail
- E-commerce
Gradely E-Learning Website Design & Development
- Education
- Dashboard
- Membership Platform
Havenly Furniture Ecommerce Website
- Furniture
- E-commerce
- Dashboard
What Our Clients Say
What Clients Say After Launch
Feedback from teams we have built content sites, stores, and web apps for.
We had a pretty specific idea of what we wanted our website to become, but I wasn’t sure how easily we could explain all of it to a development team. There were quite a few moving parts, and we were working toward a deadline, so I expected a few things to get lost along the way. That never really happened. They understood what we were trying to achieve, kept us updated throughout the process, and got everything ready within the agreed timeline. The final site feels much easier to navigate, works beautifully on mobile, and is noticeably smoother for our customers. It was a huge relief seeing the original idea actually turn into the website we had in mind.
The mobile experience is probably my favourite part of the new site. We had spent a lot of time making sure the desktop version looked right, and the team kept pushing us to think about how everything would actually feel on a phone too. They were right. The navigation is clean, the interactions feel natural, and everything we’ve tested so far works exactly as it should. They also went through the links, forms, integrations, and other details more than once before launch, which I really appreciated. And even after going live, we could still reach out when something came up. The whole process felt friendly, organised, and surprisingly straightforward.
What I appreciate most is that the website is actually easy for us to manage now. We can update content ourselves instead of sending a developer a message every time we need to change something small. They also paid attention to the technical SEO side, which mattered to us because we didn’t want a new website to create problems for the traffic we already had. I’ve probably asked more questions than I should have since launch, but every question has been handled patiently and without any fuss. The team is easy to work with, they explain things clearly, and when we need something changed, they focus on getting it done rather than making the process complicated.
1,250+
Projects shipped
10+
Years of experience
Top 3%
Upwork Top Rated Plus
5 stars
Average review score
Want results like these?
Tell us what you are building. You get a reply within 24 hours on business days, then a written estimate.
Work Culture
Why Product and Content Teams Trust Us With Site Search
Search looks simple from the outside. These habits keep relevance honest, costs predictable, and your index working after we hand it over.
Honest engine advice
If PostgreSQL full-text search or your CMS plugin covers your case, we'll tell you before we quote. A hosted engine costs money every month.
Tested on real queries
We compare old and new results on 100 real queries before launch. A change ships only when it beats what visitors see today.
Costs modeled upfront
We estimate monthly engine costs from your record count and search volume. You see the bill before you commit to a vendor.
Index kept in sync
Every index gets a sync job, a full reindex command, and an alert when updates fail. Stale results don't creep in quietly.
Independent and upfront
We aren't an Algolia or Elastic partner and earn nothing from either. You get a recommendation based on your data alone.
Your account, your index
The search engine account, API keys, and index settings belong to your company. Your developers can change any of it without us.
Overview
What do Elasticsearch consulting services include?
DeveloperLook offers Elasticsearch consulting and Algolia implementation for content sites, marketplaces, and SaaS help centers. We review your search logs, choose the engine, build the index and sync, tune relevance with synonyms and rules, and add click analytics. Projects start at $1,200, take 2 to 10 weeks, and the index stays in your account.
DEVELOPERLOOK
Project facts · Site Search Implementation
- Service
- Site Search Implementation (engine choice, indexing, relevance tuning, search analytics)
- Typical timeline
- 2 to 3 weeks for a launch, 4 to 10 weeks for tuned search
- Platforms
- Algolia, Elasticsearch, OpenSearch, and PostgreSQL full-text search
- Built with
- InstantSearch, Elasticsearch Query DSL, Node.js, Python, and your CMS or database APIs
- Experience
- 10+ years of development experience and 1,250+ shipped projects
- Post-launch support
- 30, 60, or 90 days, depending on plan
- Communication
- Calls in US, UK, and AU business hours
- Starting price
- From $1,200 USD, fixed scope after a free search log review
Reviewed 22 Oct 2026 by Saimul Islam
Good fit
Publishers with large article archives
Your site holds 12,000 articles, and a search for a writer's name returns tag pages instead of the pieces they actually wrote.
Marketplaces and custom stores
Your listings sit in your own database, and shoppers who type a misspelled brand or a size see zero results and leave.
SaaS teams with a help center
Your docs, changelog, and help articles live in three places, so customers open support tickets for answers that already exist.
Teams outgrowing their first engine
You run Elasticsearch or OpenSearch yourselves, relevance has drifted, and you want Elasticsearch consulting or OpenSearch consultants to review mappings and queries.
Agencies without search specialists
Your agency builds the site but needs to hire Elasticsearch developer time for the search layer instead of learning it mid-project.
Not a fit
Your store runs on Shopify
Your catalog lives in Shopify, where search apps plug into Shopify's own data. Our Shopify Search and Filter Setup page covers that work.
PostgreSQL search is enough
Your site has a few thousand records already in PostgreSQL. Its built-in full-text search may cover it, and our PostgreSQL Consulting Services page sets that up.
Logs, not site search
You want Elasticsearch for log analytics and observability dashboards. That's operations work, not site search, so a DevOps or observability specialist is a better fit.
Budget under $1,200
You need search on a small brochure site, and your budget is under $1,200. Your CMS's built-in search or a plugin may be enough, and we'll say so before we quote.
Not sure we're the right fit?
Book a free call or message us. We'll tell you honestly whether we're the right team.
Pricing
Transparent Starting Prices for Site Search Implementation
These are starting points in USD. Your final price depends on record count, content types, and the engine you choose, and you get a fixed proposal after a free search log review.
For sites that need working search on one index, launched in about 3 weeks.
$1,200one-time, USD
- Free search log review
- One index with up to 3 content types and 20,000 records
- Search-as-you-type box with filters
- Typo rules and synonyms from failed queries
- Click analytics set up
- 30 days of post-launch support
Recommended
For content-heavy sites and marketplaces where ranking decides what people find.
$3,400one-time, USD
- Everything in Search Launch
- Up to 250,000 records and 5 content types
- Sync pipeline from your CMS or database
- Boosts, business rules, and pinned results
- Relevance tested on 100 real queries
- 60 days of post-launch support
For large catalogs or teams running Elasticsearch or OpenSearch on their own infrastructure.
$7,200one-time, USD
- Everything in Tuned Search
- Up to 2 million records
- Self-managed or managed cluster setup
- Hybrid keyword and vector search
- Multi-language analyzers and reindex runbook
- 90 days of post-launch support
For Agencies
White-Label Site Search and Algolia Consulting for Agencies
You own the client relationship. We supply the search engineering behind it: engine choice, indexing, relevance tuning, and analytics, delivered inside your client's site under your brand. Fixed quotes keep the search layer from eating your margin.
How the partnership works
White label: your client only ever sees your brand
- Your client
- You, the agency
- DeveloperLook
Share the site
Send the staging site, content sources, and the searches your client cares about.
- Client needs
- You share the details
- Details received
We review and price
You get the log findings, an engine recommendation, and a fixed quote.
- Scope and plan
- Proposal to resell
- Your quoteYOUR LOGO
Build and hand off
Search goes live in the client's site with a tuning guide under your brand.
- Done by our team
- Your brand on it
- Handed to your clientDone
Partner with DeveloperLookDelivered under your brand
Stay client-facing
Your brand on the engine comparison, tuning guide, and reports.
Fixed-price quotes
Search work priced upfront, so the project budget holds.
Fits your build
We work in your framework and repository, next to your developers.
Tuning guides included
Your team learns to edit synonyms and rules after handover.
The Right Technology for Your Project
Technology Stack
We work across hosted and self-managed search engines, with the front-end libraries and content sources that feed and display them.
Algolia- Elasticsearch
- OpenSearch
PostgreSQL
- InstantSearch
React
Next.js
Vue.js
WordPress- Contentful
- Strapi
MySQL
MongoDB
AWS
Google Cloud
Docker
Kubernetes
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Straight answers on search costs, timelines, how Algolia works, and Algolia vs Elasticsearch.
Saimul IslamFounder & CEO, DeveloperLookStill have questions?
Send a message or book a call with the team.
Our site search work starts at $1,200 for one index with up to 3 content types and 20,000 records. Tuned search with a sync pipeline and up to 250,000 records starts at $3,400. A self-managed or hybrid search platform starts at $7,200. Engine fees, such as Algolia's monthly bill, are paid to the vendor directly.
A search launch takes 2 to 3 weeks, and tuned search with a sync pipeline takes 4 to 6 weeks. A self-managed platform takes 6 to 10 weeks. The longest step is usually relevance tuning, because we test real queries until the new results clearly beat the old ones.
Algolia is a hosted search service that returns results as visitors type. You send it your records, and it handles typo tolerance, synonyms, filters, and ranking rules on its own servers. Its InstantSearch libraries build the search box and results page. That's why Algolia site search often launches faster than a self-run engine.
Algolia stores a copy of your records in an index on its servers, and your site queries that index through its API. Ranking follows a tie-breaking formula: textual relevance first, then the custom ranking you set, such as popularity. Click events sent through its Insights API feed analytics and some AI ranking features.
Algolia's pricing page lists a free plan with 10,000 searches a month and 50,000 records. The Grow plan includes 10,000 searches and 100,000 records, then charges $0.50 per extra 1,000 searches and $0.40 per extra 1,000 records. We model your monthly bill from your traffic before you choose.
It can be at high search volumes, but it's often cheaper than it looks. Self-hosting Elasticsearch or OpenSearch avoids per-search fees, but you pay for servers and for someone to run, upgrade, and tune them. For small and mid-size sites, Algolia's bill is usually lower than that engineering time.
Neither wins everywhere. Algolia vs Elasticsearch comes down to control: Algolia is hosted and fast to launch, with typo tolerance and analytics built in. Elasticsearch, or OpenSearch, its Apache 2.0 fork, gives full control over analyzers, scoring, and hosting costs, but needs engineers to run it. We compare both against your data first.
No. Algolia runs its own search engine, which its team built from scratch rather than on Elasticsearch or Lucene. So the two behave differently. Algolia ranks with a tie-breaking order you configure, while Elasticsearch scores results with BM25 and lets you write custom queries and analyzers.
Use Algolia when you want fast, typo-tolerant search without running servers, and your search volume fits its pricing. It suits marketplaces, publishers, and docs sites that need search-as-you-type and analytics quickly. Teams that need deep control or very high volumes often prefer Elasticsearch or OpenSearch instead.
You do. The engine account, API keys, index settings, and sync code belong to your company and sit in your repository. Every plan includes 30 to 90 days of support for fixes and tuning questions. After that, you can book an Elasticsearch consultant for quarterly relevance reviews, quoted separately.
Saimul IslamFounder & CEO, DeveloperLookStill have questions?
Send a message or book a call with the team.
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