Section: Predictive Search Results

Everything you'll need to know about your Predictive Search Results section.

The Predictive Search Results section powers the autocomplete dropdown that appears as visitors type in the header search input. It shows live product, article, page, and collection suggestions — speeding up discovery and reducing clicks. This is an internal/system section with no merchant-facing settings — it's wired up automatically and renders live via Shopify's Section Rendering API as the visitor types.

The Predictive Search Results section is rendered automatically when a visitor types into the header search input. Shopify makes a request to the predictive search API and the results populate the dropdown live (no full page reload). You don't need to add this section manually — it's loaded internally by the header search behavior.

Because the section is system-internal, there are no settings to configure in the theme editor. To customize the predictive search experience, use these levers:

Shopify's predictive search behavior is controlled in Online Store → Search and discovery (or the Search & Discovery app). Configure: which content types appear (products, articles, pages, collections), synonyms, redirects, and search ranking signals. Changes apply immediately to the predictive dropdown.

The labels inside the dropdown (View all results, No results for…, Articles, etc.) come from the theme's translation files. Customize them in Online Store → Themes → ⋯ → Edit default theme content and search for predictive_search.

The colors, padding, and typography of the dropdown follow your theme's color schemes and typography settings. To restyle the dropdown specifically, edit the rules for .popular-search-item, .popular-search-image, and .popular-search-info in assets/app.css via Edit code.

Predictive search needs at least 3 characters typed to fire (with a short debounce to avoid firing on every keystroke). It also requires the Shopify Search and discovery feature to be enabled (it is by default on most plans). Check that your store has products published — empty stores return empty results.

Tag products you want excluded with gift-wrap — those are filtered out of the dropdown automatically. For broader exclusions, use the Search and discovery app to set up custom filters. Products in unpublished collections or with sales channel restrictions are also excluded automatically.

Yes — the predictive search dropdown is fully responsive. On mobile it expands to fill the search drawer. The behavior is automatic; no separate mobile setting is needed.

Synonyms are configured in Shopify's Search and discovery app (free from the App Store). Add synonym groups like tee → t-shirt, shirt so visitors searching for any term find the same products. Predictive search uses these synonyms automatically.

By default, the dropdown surfaces products, collections, and pages — articles are not requested unless the theme is configured to include them. To also show articles, the developer can extend the search types in assets/app.js (the types parameter passed to the search request) to include articles. Beyond that, Shopify's Search and discovery app controls how each content type is indexed, ranked, and filtered.