When merchants discover that 20% of their site searches are returning zero results, the instinct is often to assume they need a major fix - a new platform, a full catalogue restructure, a technical project that takes months.
The reality is different. Most zero results problems can be reduced by 50-70% through targeted, low-code interventions that take days, not months, to implement. You don't need to rebuild your platform. You need a clear methodology and consistent execution.
Before fixing anything, measure exactly where you are. Pull the following data from your analytics: overall zero results rate for the past 30 days, top 50 queries by volume that returned zero results, and top 50 queries with high search volume and low conversion. Set a weekly cadence to track zero results rate going forward.
Most stores find that 60-70% of their zero results fall into the first two categories - synonym gaps and typos. These are the fastest to fix.
If fuzzy matching is not already enabled in your search configuration, enable it now. This is often a single toggle in your search platform's admin panel. Fuzzy matching allows your search engine to return results for queries that are close to but not exactly matching indexed terms. Depending on your category and customer base, enabling fuzzy matching alone typically reduces zero results rate by 15-25%.
From your categorised zero results list, identify the synonym gaps. Don't just add synonyms for queries already failing - think proactively about regional language differences, formal vs. informal terminology, brand names vs. generic names, and abbreviations. Start with 30-50 synonym pairs covering your highest-traffic product categories. Implement them, give it a week, then re-examine your zero results report before adding the next batch.
Partial matching tells your search engine to return results when only some - rather than all - of the search terms are found. This is particularly valuable for multi-word queries. A shopper typing "organic cotton baby sleepsuit size 3-6 months" is unlikely to have every single term in your product titles. Most search platforms support this through a minimum match threshold - for example, "return results that match at least 70% of query terms."
Some zero results are caused by thin product metadata - products that exist in your catalogue but are described so minimally that the search index has little to work with. Improving product metadata also improves category page filtering, Google Shopping feeds, and on-site SEO simultaneously. Prioritise metadata enrichment for your highest-traffic product categories and highest-margin items first.
A realistic progress curve after implementing these steps:
BRADsearch is designed to make every step of this process easier: built-in synonym management, fuzzy matching on by default, and a zero results dashboard that shows you exactly where to focus.