SearchStax Help Center

Crawler Transformations

The SearchStax Site Search solution’s Crawler add-on offers transformers to normalize string and text field values.

This feature is exclusively available for applications using the Crawler for data ingestion.

How to Access

Site Search > Connectors > Crawler > Details > Manage Fields > Add Custom Field > Apply Transformations

Key Features

  1. Split Field Values
    • Separate values in a field based on delimiters like commas, spaces, or custom symbols.
    • Example: Transform “a,b,c” into [“a”, “b”, “c”]
  2. Strip Special Characters
    • Remove non-alphanumeric characters from fields for clean and accessible search results.
    • Example: Convert “Hawai’i | Manoa” into “Hawaii Manoa”
  3. Trim Whitespace
    • Eliminate unnecessary spaces from fields, with options to trim from the left, right, or both ends. Can also remove all whitespace characters from the field.
    • Example: ” University ” becomes “University.”
  4. Convert Case
    • Standardize field text by converting it to lowercase, uppercase, proper case, or sentence case.
    • Example: “transformations Feature” → “Transformations Feature.”
  5. Chain Multiple Transformations
    • Combine up to three transformations per field in a specified order.
    • Example Workflow: Trim whitespace → Split by comma → Convert to lowercase.

Benefits

  • Enhanced Search Relevance: Deliver clean, normalized data to search indices for string matching.
  • Consistent Presentation: Configure transformations to standardize string and text values in search results.

This feature is ideal for:

  • Marketers who want greater control over how their data appears in search results without needing to modify the source content directly.
  • Developers who need to remove unmatched single-quotes from field values.

Limitations

  • Available through the Crawler add-on only.
  • Applies to string and text fields only.
  • Supports up to three transformations per field.
  • Currently available for English-language data only.

Example Use Cases

Example 1: Higher Education – Events listing optimization

Scenario: A university wants to display events data for its events search results, including lecture series, workshops, and conferences. The event details often contain inconsistent formats, such as extra spaces, mixed capitalization, or combined information in a single field.

Transformations Applied:

  1. Trim Whitespace: Remove leading and trailing spaces from event names and locations.
    • Example: " Science Building " → "Science Building"
  2. Convert Case: Standardize event names to Proper Case for a professional appearance.
    • Example: "lecture: quantum physics" → "Lecture: Quantum Physics"

Example 2: Healthcare – Facility listings

Scenario: A healthcare provider maintains a directory of clinics and hospitals to display in search results. The data includes facility names and addresses, which may have formatting inconsistencies or unwanted characters.

Transformations Applied:

  1. Strip Special Characters: Remove non-alphanumeric characters from facility names and reviews to improve clarity and searchability.
    • Example: "St. Mary’s Hospital (Main Branch)!" → "St Marys Hospital Main Branch"
  2. Trim Whitespace: Clean up addresses and names by removing unnecessary spaces.
    • Example: " 123 Main St. " → "123 Main St."
  3. Convert Case: Ensure all facility names are in Uppercase for consistency in the directory.
    • Example: "St marys hospital" → "ST MARYS HOSPITAL"

Questions?

Do not hesitate to contact the SearchStax Support Desk.

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