Make Site Search Manageable with the Cludo Connector for AEM

When people think about search on a website, they think about the ability to find some information that they need/want, but almost no one thinks about marketing to such people. After all, they are already on your website, what more needs to be done? But being on a website doesn’t guarantee that the final sale or conversion event has taken place. And if you are like most large organizations then your web footprint can be quite large, so the likelihood of a user getting lost can be high, even if you send them to the landing page you made just for them. What if you could provide direction, lead, or even market to them?

Adobe Experience Manager, king of content management systems for marketers, provides search functionality that requires some effort for implementation and configuration to provide marketers with actionable data. This leads to a decision for organizations to choose either a third-party search tool or spend resources and develop a custom search solution on top of AEM. Google was and is the unmatched king of search. Aside from owning the internet search engine of choice for almost everyone, they got into the business market by offering Google Site Search and Google Search Appliance, stand-alone products that provided a search solution for organizations to use on their websites. Almost everyone was surprised when they announced that they would be mothballing these products. Cludo was positioned perfectly to replace Google Site Search when they exited the market.

Started in 2015, Cludo had as its core the ability to use search to market to users of the website, as well as how to make the control and management of the search tool easier, without the need for a development team.

“With features like Quicklinks, Page Rankings, and Smart Banners, marketers have the ability to transform the way visitors use their website. Marketers can work directly from their analytics dashboard in real-time, making data-driven decisions that improve user experiences and enhance conversion rates.” — Dusan Novakovic, Chief Product Owner at Cludo

When we decided to partner with Cludo, we liked knowing that marketers would be able to control their site search solution without intervention from their IT team, with simple-to-use tools and an easy, customizable setup. Here are some of the features that Cludo offers:

Intelligent 404 — If a user ends up on a 404 page then Cludo can be set up to render search results based on the words in the URL that the user tried to go to. Rather than the user just leaving or getting frustrated with the experience, they are presented with intelligent search results to guide them back to something relevant.

Banners — This tool allows you to create banners that are shown at the top of the search results page for specific searches. This is a visual and creatively prominent way to promote important content based on the search performed.

Intelligent Autocomplete — Based on machine learning this autocomplete feature is more than just matching based upon the letter that users type into the search field. Cludo displays options based on previous users searches.

Rich Autocomplete — Not only does it offer suggestions of searches based on what is typed in by the user, but it also provides direct result links to pages that most likely match the content they are searching for, saving needless clicks.

Additional features can be found at the Cludo website.

The ability to install a small AEM package, configure a few dialogs, and drag a couple of components into a page template makes implementing Cludo search onto your AEM infrastructure a piece of cake. Our team of AEM implementation specialists took the pain and hassle of integrating a third-party tool out of the way. And once it’s installed then your marketing teams can get to work enhancing the experience of users, with a clean and friendly dashboard.

”With indexes built and Cludo engines running, we are able to implement search on a new site in less than 15 minutes.” — Tyler Maynard AEM Solutions Architect at Hoodoo Digital

The Cludo connector for AEM is a fantastic tool for website users, AEM developers, content authors, and Marketers. Some of the benefits are:

• Cludo is a search tool, so users of the website have the ability to find whatever content they want by using a search field to get fast, relevant results.
• AEM developers have cloud configurations for easy administration, with client libraries to support on-page JavaScript snippets or to hold Cludo specific JavaScript and CSS
• Content authors will have search and search results components for embedding within a template or use in page authoring through the drop area, tools that can trigger Cludo to reindex site content after a “Publish” event, and reporting dashboards for quick and insightful decision making.
• Marketers have the Cludo dashboard directly available within the AEM interface, letting them make data-driven decisions based on their users, to enhance content.
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Hoodoo has a track record of bringing useful third party martech to the AEM landscape. Co-Founder of Hoodoo Digital, Andy Wakefield said of this latest connector for AEM, “We are excited to expand our group of connectors that enhances the experience of using Adobe Experience Manager. The Cludo connector for AEM will easily empower marketing teams by providing the power of their search analytics in an easily digestible way.” For more details about the Cludo connector for AEM by Hoodoo visit: https://hoodoo.digital/connectors/cludo. Or contact us to set up a short demo.

Are you looking for an AEM implementation specialist with the expertise to setup Cludo’s search tools on your AEM infrastructure?

We do. We’re Hoodoo.