Algolia Search

Scottsdale Mint uses Algolia to power site-wide product search and category browsing. Algolia provides near-instant search results with typo tolerance, filters, and faceted navigation — capabilities not available in WordPress's default search.

Plugin

Plugin: algolia/algolia-woocommerce (or the standard WP Search with Algolia plugin from WebDevStudios)
Application ID: EYDBVK6XRL

Index Names

Index names are environment-specific, determined by the ALGOLIA_PREFIX environment variable:

Environment	Index Prefix	Example Product Index
Production	`scottsdale_prod_`	`scottsdale_prod_posts`
Staging	`scottsdale_stg_`	`scottsdale_stg_posts`
Local	`scottsdale_local_v2_`	`scottsdale_local_v2_posts`

Environment Variables

Variable	Description
`ALGOLIA_APPLICATION_ID`	Algolia application ID (`EYDBVK6XRL`)
`ALGOLIA_ADMIN_API_KEY`	Algolia admin key (used server-side only — never in frontend code)
`ALGOLIA_SEARCH_API_KEY`	Algolia search-only API key (safe for frontend use)
`ALGOLIA_PREFIX`	Index name prefix (`scottsdale_prod_` / `scottsdale_stg_` / `scottsdale_local_v2_`)

Never Expose Admin Key

The ALGOLIA_ADMIN_API_KEY must never appear in frontend JavaScript or HTML source. It has full write access to the Algolia index. Use only ALGOLIA_SEARCH_API_KEY in frontend code.

What is Indexed

Content Type	Index	Notes
WooCommerce Products	`{prefix}posts`	Primary search index
WordPress Posts	`{prefix}posts`	News, blog posts
WordPress Pages	`{prefix}posts` (filtered)	Selected pages
Product categories	Facets within products index	Not a separate index

Product Index Fields

Each product record in Algolia contains:

objectID — WordPress post ID
post_title — Product name
post_content — Product description (stripped of HTML)
sku — WooCommerce SKU
price — Current price (float)
_product_image_url — Featured image URL
permalink — Product URL
categories — Array of category names/slugs
_metal_type — Gold, Silver, Platinum, Palladium (for faceting)
_metal_weight_troy_oz — For filtering by weight
_in_stock — Boolean for availability filtering
taxable — Whether AvaTax applies

Search Features

Autocomplete / Instant Search

The site implements InstantSearch.js (Algolia's frontend library) on the search bar:

Typeahead suggestions appear as the customer types
Results ranked by Algolia's relevance algorithm
Facets available for metal type, price range, product category

Full-Text Search Results Page

The search results page (/search/) uses Algolia InstantSearch with:

Product grid sorted by relevance
Sidebar facets: Metal Type, Price Range, Weight, In Stock
Pagination (infinite scroll or page numbers)
"No results" fallback with suggestions

Index Synchronization

Automatic Sync

Products are synced to Algolia automatically when:

A product is saved (save_post action)
A product's price is updated (via the pricing pipeline, which triggers a post meta save)
A product is trashed or deleted (removed from index)

Manual Re-Index

To re-index all products:

wp algolia re-index --network
# Or via the WP admin: Algolia → Indices → "Re-index All"

Re-indexing on Production

Re-indexing all products on production replaces the index atomically (Algolia swaps indices when complete). This is safe but can take several minutes for large catalogs. Price updates continue working during re-index.

Patches Applied

The suma-patches plugin includes Algolia-related modifications:

// Modifications to search result ranking or attribute indexing
// to prioritize precious metals product fields

Refer to web/app/mu-plugins/suma-patches/ for the specific Algolia hooks.

Algolia Insights (Analytics)

Algolia Insights tracks:

Which search queries lead to product views
Which products are clicked from search results
Which products are purchased after a search

This data feeds into Algolia's Click-Through Rate metrics and helps improve ranking.

Troubleshooting

Issue	Action
Search not finding a product	Check the product is published and not password-protected; manually re-sync the product in Algolia admin
Wrong environment searched	Verify `ALGOLIA_PREFIX` is set correctly for current environment
Prices in search results are stale	Price updates trigger re-sync; check if the pricing webhook is running
Algolia admin key in JS	Audit `ALGOLIA_ADMIN_API_KEY` usage — must only be in PHP/server-side code
InstantSearch not loading	Check JavaScript console; verify `ALGOLIA_SEARCH_API_KEY` and `ALGOLIA_APPLICATION_ID` in WP settings

Plugin​

Index Names​

Environment Variables​

What is Indexed​

Product Index Fields​

Search Features​

Autocomplete / Instant Search​

Full-Text Search Results Page​

Index Synchronization​

Automatic Sync​

Manual Re-Index​

Patches Applied​

Algolia Insights (Analytics)​

Troubleshooting​