How to set typo tolerance and semantic search for your online store
Open Search › Advanced Search Settings to control how forgiving and how meaning-based your store search is. Typo tolerance sets how many wrong letters are forgiven, semantic sensitivity sets how much search relies on meaning, and search priority picks the approach. For most stores, typo tolerance at 1 with the Hybrid priority works best.
- 1:10 video
- Search › Advanced Search Settings
When to change these settings
Most stores never need to touch them. Search already forgives small spelling mistakes and understands meaning out of the box. These settings are for when you want more control, or when you notice a pattern in your results.
Typical signs: a common misspelling brings up look-alike products instead of the real thing, results feel too loose and include items that only share a word, or they feel too strict and miss products described in different words. In the video, "smartwach", missing a t, first shows budget bands and look-alike watches, and after adjusting the settings the real smartwatches come first.
Typo tolerance: how many mistakes to forgive
The Search typo edit distance setting accepts 0, 1 or 2. At 0, a search must be spelled exactly. At 1, a single wrong, missing or extra letter is forgiven, so "عبايه" still finds "عباية" and "smartwach" finds smartwatches. At 2, two letters can differ.
Higher is not better. Allowing two changes can start matching different words, especially in Arabic, where many product words are short and differ from each other by only a letter or two. One is the right choice for most stores.
Semantic sensitivity: words or meaning
Semantic search sensitivity, from 0 to 100, controls how much search relies on meaning rather than the exact words. A higher value helps descriptive searches like "gift for dad" or "something for the gym". A lower value keeps results closer to the words the shopper typed.
This setting only appears when the search priority is Hybrid or Semantic, since a Full Text search does not use meaning. Change it in small steps and test the same searches after each change.
Search priority: choosing the approach
Semantic search priority has three options. Hybrid combines matching words with understanding meaning, and it is the best choice for most stores. Full Text relies on the words only. Semantic relies on meaning first.
The same page also holds the Image search threshold, which sets how close a photo match must be for image search. Typo tolerance is also different from the "Did you mean" option under Search suggestions: typo tolerance decides which products match, while "Did you mean" suggests a corrected keyword to the shopper.
How to set it up
- 1In the dashboard, open Search, then Advanced Search Settings.
- 2Set Search typo edit distance to 1.
- 3Set Semantic search priority to Hybrid.
- 4If descriptive searches miss products, raise Semantic search sensitivity a little; if results drift from the words shoppers type, lower it.
- 5Click Save changes.
- 6On your store, repeat the searches that worried you, including a misspelled Arabic one, and compare the results.
Common questions
What is the best typo tolerance setting?
1 suits most stores. It forgives one wrong, missing or extra letter without pulling in unrelated words.
Should I set typo tolerance to 2 to catch more mistakes?
Usually not. At 2, short words, especially in Arabic, can match different words and fill the results with unrelated products. If a specific misspelling is common in your store, adding it as a synonym is a more precise fix.
Why can't I see Semantic search sensitivity?
It only appears when Semantic search priority is set to Hybrid or Semantic. With Full Text, search uses words only, so there is nothing to adjust.
Is typo tolerance the same as "Did you mean"?
No. Typo tolerance quietly matches products despite small mistakes. "Did you mean (typo correction)", under Search › Search suggestions, shows the shopper a corrected keyword they can tap.
