How to add functionality to search website?

6 replies
I was hoping that I could get some recommendations on what site search solution to implement? What are you using? I am aware of custom search from Google, but I would prefer something that is my own. I have thought about just creating my own search engine, but I would prefer not to.

Do you have any recommendation to a solution that works? I would prefer something that can cache common searches or somehow optimize the processing power required...

I am used to working with PHP/MySQL, but I am open to anything that works. I do not mind paying for a good solution, but I am not interested in a cost per search query solution or high monthly fees.
#add #functionality #search #website
  • Profile picture of the author Andrew H
    It really depends. Is your content stored in a mysql db? in that case the obvious solution would be php+mysql for the search function.

    Is the content in html files? probably using google custom search would be your best option.
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    • Profile picture of the author ScouterGuy
      Originally Posted by Andrew H View Post

      Is your content stored in a mysql db? in that case the obvious solution would be php+mysql for the search function.
      The data is stored in the mysql database. There is a lot of text, basically no images, so a full text search would be great.

      Originally Posted by SteveSRS View Post

      Have a search on 'sphinxsearch'. Best search solution in my opinion and its free. It even supports real-time search.
      I am going to read up on sphinxsearch. I am hoping that I will be able to collect data on how people search as I believe it can help me optimize the site. Does sqhinxsearch support that as well?

      Can it also output relevant information for the search? I mean, let us say that I have a huge text file and it searches for "something". Can it then highlight the sentence that matches that search? I mean, to make it easier for the visitor to identify if the match is correct or not? Any other google-like features like keeping track of what link people click on?

      I also heard about Apache Lucene. Have you worked with that as well?
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      • Profile picture of the author mojojuju
        Originally Posted by ScouterGuy View Post


        I also heard about Apache Lucene. Have you worked with that as well?
        If you're interested in Lucene, have a look at Solr which is a full featured product built around Lucene.
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  • Profile picture of the author SteveSRS
    Have a search on 'sphinxsearch'. Best search solution in my opinion and its free.
    It even supports real-time search.
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    • Profile picture of the author bugtrack
      It depends what type of contents youa re having if you have content stored in the database then you can search using sql queries otherwise blog content can be searched by using third party searchers and crawlers. You can use pico search or fusion bot for it
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  • Profile picture of the author SteveSRS
    solr is kinda a competitor of sphinxsearch I think but I have no experience with solr.. looks good though.

    Sphinx does keep a search log automatically, it would be up to you to use it though and make stats etc. As for the highlighting that would be something you would do programmatically after the search results come back. Not too hard to do though..
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