---
title: "Search Insights — SimplifyStock docs"
description: "What customers search your store for, what returns nothing, and how to read zero-result terms as a buying signal rather than a search bug."
url: "https://simplifybase.com/product/simplifystock/docs/search-insights/"
---

# Search Insights

What customers search your store for, what returns nothing, and how to read zero-result terms as a buying signal rather than a search bug.

**SimplifyStock → Search Insights** records what people type into your store’s search box. It is the only screen here that tells you about demand you are not already meeting — everything else measures products you stock.

Tracking is **off until you turn it on**. Until then the screen says _Search tracking is disabled_ and offers **Go to Settings**.

## Turning it on

1.  Go to **SimplifyStock → Settings**.
2.  Tick **Track on-site product searches locally**.
3.  **Save changes**.

Data starts collecting from that moment; it cannot be backfilled, so the sooner it is on the sooner the reports are worth reading. Give it a couple of weeks before drawing conclusions from anything except the most-searched terms.

## What is recorded, and where it goes

Searches are stored in your own WordPress database. Nothing is sent anywhere.

When anonymisation is enabled, network addresses are stored only as a one-way, site-specific hash — it cannot be reversed, and the same visitor on another site does not produce the same hash.

Even so, search tracking is the one feature here that observes visitor behaviour, so **describe it in your site’s privacy notice**. See [Data and privacy](https://simplifybase.com/product/simplifystock/docs/data-and-privacy/).

## The four counters

Choose a **Time Period** — Last 7, 30 or 90 days — and the counters follow it:

| Counter | What it counts |
| --- | --- |
| Total Searches | Every search in the period |
| Unique Terms | Distinct phrases searched |
| Zero Results | Searches that returned nothing |
| Conversion Rate | Share of searches that led to a purchase |

**Zero Results is the number to watch.** A high Total Searches with a high Zero Results means people are arriving with intent and leaving without buying — the most expensive kind of visitor you can have.

## The four reports

### Top Terms

Most frequently searched terms. Useful for navigation and merchandising: if a term is in the top ten and is not a category or a filter on your store, it should be.

### Searches With No Results

Terms that returned no products. Read each one as a question rather than a fault:

-   **You do not stock it.** That is a buying signal — see Product Gaps below.
-   **You stock it under a different name.** The customer’s word is the right one; add it to the product title or as a synonym.
-   **It is a typo, or not a product at all.** Ignore it.

### Product Gaps

Searches for products you do not stock, marked **New Product** — the terms with demand behind them and nothing to sell. This is the report that pays for the feature: a ranked list of things customers have asked you for, in their own words, that you could add to the catalogue.

### Low Stock Demand

Products customers are searching for that are low or out of stock. These are restock signals with urgency attached: demand you can measure, against stock you do not have.

Cross-check this against [Restock Suggestions](https://simplifybase.com/product/simplifystock/docs/dashboard/) on the Dashboard. A product appearing in both is the clearest reorder case the plugin can make — the forecast says it is running out, and customers are actively looking for it.

## Search Trends

Daily search volume over time. Use it to separate a genuine rise in interest from a single busy day, and to see whether a term you acted on kept its volume afterwards.

## Retention

Search data is kept for 90 days by default, and the period is configurable under [Settings](https://simplifybase.com/product/simplifystock/docs/configuration/). Reports never look further back than what is retained, so if you want year-on-year comparisons, raise it before the first year passes rather than after.

## Where to go next

-   [Settings](https://simplifybase.com/product/simplifystock/docs/configuration/) — the tracking toggle, anonymisation and retention.
-   [Data and privacy](https://simplifybase.com/product/simplifystock/docs/data-and-privacy/) — what is stored and what to put in your privacy notice.

[← Previous Alerts](https://simplifybase.com/product/simplifystock/docs/alerts/)[Next → Forecasting](https://simplifybase.com/product/simplifystock/docs/forecasting/)

Last updated 6 September 2026