Algolia Search Returns No Results

How to fix it

Try these in order — the most common fix is first.

1. 1. Check the index and the records

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   1. Open the dashboard, go to Search > Index and pick the index your site queries
   2. Confirm the index has records and that they contain the attributes you search and filter on
   3. Check the index name in your front-end code matches exactly (names are case-sensitive)
   Did this fix it? Yes No

2. 2. Loosen strict matching

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   1. In Configuration > Relevance, enable removeWordsIfNoResults (for example lastWords or allOptional) so Algolia retries with fewer words
   2. Set removeStopWords and ignorePlurals for your language
   3. Mark non-essential words as optionalWords
   Did this fix it? Yes No

3. 3. Add synonyms and keep typo tolerance on

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   1. Go to Configuration > Synonyms and add industry terms and spelling variants
   2. Leave typo tolerance on globally; disable it only per attribute (disableTypoToleranceOnAttributes) for precision fields such as SKUs
   Did this fix it? Yes No

4. 4. Review no-result queries in Analytics

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   1. Open Analytics > Searches with no results
   2. Fix the data or add synonyms for the most common failed queries
   3. Show Query Suggestions or related content on the empty results page
   Did this fix it? Yes No

Symptoms

Searches return zero hits, or far fewer than expected, even though matching records exist in the index.

Why it happens

• By default every query word must match, so long or mixed queries find nothing
• Records lack the attributes your queries, facets or filters rely on
• Typo tolerance disabled globally, so only exact matches return
• Missing synonyms, singular/plural mismatches or stop words
• Only the last query word acts as a prefix by default
• Wrong index name in the front end (it returns valid empty results, not an error)

This guide also covers

• algolia no results
• algolia search not returning results
• algolia not finding records

Other Algolia errors

• Algolia Search Results Irrelevant or Wrong Order
• Algolia 429 Too Many Requests Error
• Algolia Record Is Too Big Error
• Algolia Record Quota Exceeded or Limit Reached
• Algolia Invalid Application ID or API Key (403)
• Algolia Updates Not Showing in Search Results
• Algolia Search Slow or High Latency
• Algolia Crawler Not Indexing Records