Shoppers who use site search tend to be the ones closest to buying, which makes search one of the highest-intent surfaces on a store. Shopify's native search, along with the free Search & Discovery app, covers the basics well. Once a catalog gets large, attribute-heavy, or seasonal, many Plus brands move to a dedicated search platform such as Algolia or Klevu.
What They Do
Both platforms replace native search with faster, more forgiving results: typo tolerance, synonyms, AI-driven understanding of what a shopper means, rich filtering, and merchandising controls that let a team boost, bury, or pin products for specific queries. Both also report on what shoppers search for, including searches that return nothing.
Algolia is an API-first search platform used well beyond Shopify, which makes it a strong fit for brands with developer resources, custom storefronts, or headless builds. Klevu is built specifically for eCommerce search and merchandising. In 2025 Klevu combined with Searchspring to form Athos Commerce, which is moving Klevu customers onto a unified Athos platform, with legacy platforms scheduled to phase out starting in 2027. Brands on Klevu today should factor that migration into their plans.
Why It Needs a Real Owner
Search relevance decays without attention. New products launch without the right attributes, seasonal terms shift, and zero-result searches pile up quietly. The search platform's reports show exactly where shoppers are failing to find things, but only if someone reviews them on a schedule and acts on them with synonyms, rules, and fixes to product data.
Who Should Own It
Search belongs with an eCommerce Merchandising Manager, ideally the same person who owns collection sorting, so that what a shopper sees in search and in collections follows the same logic. With Algolia in particular, the merchandiser will also need regular access to developer support.
What to Screen For
- Search analytics habits, including how often the candidate reviewed zero-result and low-conversion queries and what they did about them.
- Product data discipline, since attribute quality determines how well search and filters work.
- Judgment on manual rules, knowing when to pin or boost and when to let relevance do the work.
- Experience on the specific platform, or a comparable one, at a similar catalog size.
A strong answer names the report and describes a review routine. A weak answer treats search as something the platform handles on its own.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should a Shopify Plus brand choose Algolia or Klevu?
It depends on the build and the team. Algolia is API-first and suits brands with developer resources, custom storefronts, or headless builds. Klevu is built specifically for eCommerce merchandising, though brands should account for Athos Commerce's plan to move Klevu customers to its unified platform, with legacy platforms phasing out starting in 2027.
When does a store outgrow native Shopify search?
Usually when the catalog is large or attribute-heavy, when zero-result searches are frequent, or when the merchandising team needs query-level control over what appears. Smaller catalogs are often well served by native search and Shopify's free Search & Discovery app.
More Shopify Plus Apps
For how all of these fit together, and which roles to hire at each growth stage, see The Top Shopify Plus Apps for 2026, and the eCommerce Talent You Need to Run Them, or browse the full Shopify Plus apps guide.