Apache Solr for TYPO3 - The Search for Your Website

Your website is full of great content. But what good is it if visitors can't find it? What's missing? Search - but not just any search. You need a tool, like a hosted solr server, that is smart, fast and flexible. Yes! You are right. I'm talking about Apache Solr here. If you add Solr to your TYPO3  website, you get a powerful, smart and super-fast search. It displays filters and suggestions and can even look inside documents.

Read on to see how easy it is to add TYPO3 Solr and improve your search!

Apache Solr is open-source software. It is often used for searches. It is also useful for data analysis on websites and in companies. It is also used in big data projects.

Here are the reasons why TYPO3 Solr is a good solution. The available TYPO3 extensions are particularly important.

• Flexible data support: With Solr, structured, semi-structured or unstructured data from various sources can be indexed and searched.
• Powerful functions: Solr offers built-in features such as faceted search, autocomplete, spell check and geo-based search that significantly improve the user experience.
• Multilingual support: Solr can be used with many programming languages, including Java, Python, Ruby, C#, PHP and many more.
• Open source: Solr is completely free to use and is continuously developed by a dedicated community.

Thanks to these advantages, TYPO3 Solr is used in many applications. These include product searches on e-commerce websites and the analysis of logs and social media data.

If your website has a lot of content, you need a Solr server. This includes Apache TYPO3 Solr. Such content can be pages, news, documents, or products. It makes searching on your website faster, smarter, and improves the user experience.

Here's why Apache Solr is so important for TYPO3:

1. Faster search for large websites

TYPO3 websites can become very extensive over time. Solr is designed to process large amounts of content, which is particularly important for businesses. It can search through thousands of entries in a matter of seconds.

2. Smarter results

Solr understands what people are searching for and offers autosuggest while typing to improve user-friendliness. It displays suggestions while typing, corrects minor spelling mistakes, and even recognizes different terms with similar meanings. For example, if someone types in “photo” but your page uses “image,” TYPO3 Solr will still find the right result.

3. Easier for visitors

Solr allows visitors to filter search results by date, category, or keywords. This helps them find what they are looking for more quickly. These advantages improve the overall user experience.

4. Customizable to your needs

Every website is different. TYPO3 Solr can be set up to display results exactly the way you want them. You can specify what to search, what to ignore, and how the results are displayed.

5. Better than the standard search

TYPO3 comes with a simple standard search function, but it is limited. TYPO3 Solr is faster, more flexible, and offers significantly more features. It can be perfectly integrated into TYPO3 via a TYPO3 extension called EXT:solr.

Apache Solr for TYPO3 works well with TYPO3. This is thanks to a TYPO3 Solr extension and many useful tools. These make setup, content indexing, and customization easier for both developers and editors.

1 EXT:solr

This is the main Solr extension that connects Apache Solr to TYPO3. It offers features like:

• Faceted search (filtering by category, keyword, date, etc.)
• Support for synonyms
• Spell check, suggestions and other advanced search functions

This Solr extension is open source and widely used in the TYPO3 community. It supports multi-site and multilingual search and integrates well with TYPO3 content types.

2. solr file_indexer

This add-on allows you to index not only file names or titles, but also the actual content of files. With the help of Apache Tika, it can read text from over 1,200 file formats. These include PDFs, Word documents, and Excel files. This allows users to search directly within the document content, which promotes participation in search optimization.

3 DDEV Apache Solr for TYPO3

This tool is intended for development environments. It helps developers quickly set up a Solr+TYPO3 environment locally with DDEV. DDEV is a popular container-based development tool. Ideal for testing, developing, and speeding up project setup.

Apache TYPO3 Solr makes searching on your TYPO3 website better and faster. Here's how to set it up and use it:

1. Installation and setup of TYPO3 Solr

Step 1: Add Solr extension

• You need to install the EXT:solr extension in TYPO3.
• With the TYPO3 Extension Manager (in the TYPO3 backend):
  • Go to TYPO3 Extension Manager.
  • Click on "Get Extensions".
  • Search for solr.
  • Click on Install.
• With Composer (if you use TYPO3 Composer):

• Execute this command in the project directory:

  composer require apache-solr-for-typo3/solr

• Then go to TYPO3 Extension Manager and activate the extension.

Step 2: Set up the TYPO3 Solr extension

• Go to your root page in the page tree and add the static TypoScript of TYPO3 Solr in the TYPO3 template settings.

• Add these two markers in the website template around your main content:

  <!--TYPO3SEARCH_begin--> 
  Your main content here 
  <!--TYPO3SEARCH_end-->

• Activate indexing via the following TypoScript:

  config { index_enable = 1 }

• If you are using TYPO3 version 9.5 or higher:
  • Go to the Sites module.
  • Set the base URL of your website (e.g. https:// example. com/).
  • Enter the Solr core name in the configuration of the respective language.

2. Index the content of the website

• As soon as Solr is installed and set up:
  • Go to the Empty caches menu in the TYPO3 backend.
  • Click on Initialize Solr connections.
• To check if everything is working:
  • Open the Reports module
  • Go to Status report to see if TYPO3 Solr is connected.
• To keep content up to date:
  • Use the Scheduler module
  • Create a job that indexes content regularly (e.g. every hour).

3. Customize the search in TYPO3 Solr

You can customize the appearance and behavior of the search:

• Customize the search templates to match the design of your website.
• Use TypoScript to, for example:
  • Display filters
  • Sort results
  • Add further options such as categories

Integrating TYPO3 Solr into your website makes searching easier, faster, and more helpful for your visitors. Here's what it can do to provide important information

1. Faceted Search

This allows users to narrow down their search results. They can use filters such as category, date, author, or keywords. For example, those searching for news can filter results by year or topic. This makes finding relevant content faster and easier.

2. Support for Synonyms

Solr understands different search terms and supports indexed search to find words with the same meaning. If someone searches for “photo” but your content uses the word “image,” Solr will still display the correct results. This makes the search smarter and more accurate.

3. Auto-Complete and Auto-Correct

As users type into the search bar, Solr displays suggestions in real time based on popular or matching terms. TYPO3 Solr automatically corrects minor typos. It still delivers the right results, like a helpful assistant in the search field.

4. High Speed

No one likes to wait. TYPO3 Solr delivers search results almost instantly, even with thousands of pages, documents, or products. Maintenance keeps your website fast and your visitors happy.

5. Search Within Documents (with Apache Tika)

Do you have PDFs, Word files, or Excel documents on your TYPO3 website? A Solr server uses a tool called Apache Tika to read the content of these files. Solr uses a tool called Apache Tika to read and index the content of these files. This allows users to search within the actual document text, not just the file name or title.

Implementing Apache TYPO3 Solr brings real added value to your website. It improves search speed and makes it easier for users to find content. It can process large amounts of data without slowing down.

With its flexibility and strong integration with TYPO3, Solr is a good choice. It offers better performance, better TYPO3 SEO and a better user experience. If you want to improve search on your website, now is the time. Start with TYPO3 Solr.

Get started with TYPO3 Solr today - and experience the difference!