Design custom zero-hit pages with zero-hit management in the Control Desk

Create a zero-hit page

First, we will show you how to create a new zero-hit page. To do this, click on the "Create entry" button to open a new window for creating the zero-hit page.

Create a zero-hit page in Control Desk

First, enter the search term for which you want to create a zero-hit page in the field provided. You also have the option of entering multiple search terms directly. You can do this using the plus sign. This allows you to cover both the singular and plural forms of a term (e.g., backpack and backpacks).

You then have further optional choices. You can select one of the search term options (contains, begins with, or ends with). You can also optionally set a start and/or end date for the duration of the entry. Then select the appropriate country code for which the zero hits page should be displayed and click on "Save."

Once you have completed these steps, your zero results page will be created, immediately active, and the appropriate default text will be displayed depending on the country code.

Edit zero-hit page

If you want to edit your zero-hit page, simply click on the "pencil icon" in the row of your created entry in the table. At this point, it is important to know that you can choose a custom design in addition to a standard page.

standard page

After creation, the default text is automatically displayed and all options for customization are hidden. To see what a standard zero-hit page might look like, you can view an example.

Example of a standard zero-hit page

Custom design

However, if you would like to customize your page, you can simply activate the toggle for this. All fields that you can use for customization will then appear.

Here you now have the option to

• Add an image URL, a destination URL, and text for your banner.
• Create a headline (custom headline or default) and a description for your page.
• point out alternative products and add a title (individual or standard) for your alternative product suggestions.

Edit and customize the zero hits page in Control Desk

Set alternative search results

To highlight alternative products, simply check the "Alternative search result" box. Then enter a search term and, optionally, a title for the alternative search result, or select the default option. Finally, click on "Save" to complete your customized zero results page. At this point, you also have the option of viewing an example of a customized zero results page.

Example of customizing a zero-hit page

Create theme worlds

The Control Desk offers you another way to customize your zero-hit pages.

If there is no search term that can be used to query the alternative products, you can enter any search term and create a theme world with the same name, which will then be searched for automatically. This means that the theme world will be displayed in the search results for the alternative search term.

To do this, you can create a theme world for the search term in edit mode under "Alternative search result." If you select this option, you will be redirected to the "Theme worlds" navigation point in the Control Desk, where you can configure all further settings. The search term is automatically set as the title of the theme world, and the theme world entry automatically has the country code selected that was also specified for the zero-hit entry.

Create a theme world for an alternative search result

We have summarized more about the topic worlds feature in the blog article Recommendation Management Part 3: Topic Worlds.

Combine results management

In addition, you can use result management for the alternative search term to influence the order in which the items are displayed. By creating a result management entry for your alternative search term, you can sort the products individually. The advantage of using any search term is that the changes only apply to the alternative search.

We show you the detailed possibilities offered by result management in our blog article: Result management: How you can optimize result sets even more precisely now.

The customer can view all items from the alternative search in the online shop if they are interested. This is done by clicking on the "more products" button.

Note: This is not a form of personalization. The products/information displayed are the same for every visitor to the shop. Their history, previous click behavior, etc. are not taken into account.

Overview of created zero-hit pages

Once you are in the overview, you can find all zero-hit pages created in the table. Here you can see at a glance all search terms for which zero-hit pages have been created. You can also

• the specified country code,
• a preview of the selected banner,
• the alternative search term,
• an indication of whether the page has been customized,
• the date of the last change,
• the term and
• view the status (active or inactive).

In addition, you can configure, edit, or delete any entry in the table.

Overview of created zero-hit pages

In the upper section, there is also the option to view further details. If you activate this toggle, you can display useful information about individual designs directly in the table. If you move your mouse over the individual pieces of information, a tooltip will also show you what has been selected or entered for the individual options.