Discovery and merchandising controls

Use this guide when shoppers need better ways to express preferences or when the merchant must deliberately change product order and routing.

Semantic controlsPreferences such as minimal to bold, formal to casual, or soft texture.

Shopify filtersExact catalog facts such as availability, price, size, color, type, and vendor.

RulesMerchant decisions such as boost, bury, pin, synonym, and redirect.

1Choose problemDecide whether shoppers need a preference control, exact filter, or merchant rule.

2ConfigureCreate the smallest control, filter exposure, or rule that addresses it.

3OrderSet storefront control order or merchandising priority.

4ActivateConfirm plan limits, status, schedule, and storefront availability.

5TestReproduce the shopper path and confirm the intended products and controls.

Explore controls preferences and guided discovery.

Merchandising changes result behavior for defined triggers.

Explore mode

Master switch

Enable all controls makes active semantic controls available to storefront Explore. Turning it off preserves the controls in admin but removes their shopper effect.

Generate defaults

Creates catalog-specific controls after the first sync and analysis. Regenerating can replace or materially change the default set, so record deliberate customizations first.

Custom control types

Type	Inputs	Shopper use
Slider	Left concept and right concept	Lean between two ends
Toggle	Option 1 and Option 2	Choose one of two concepts
Single	One concept	Increase or decrease one preference

The optional title is storefront-facing. Concept wording affects behavior, so use clear and distinct terms.

Control status and order

Only active controls within the plan limit appear. Drag order becomes storefront order. If the limit is reached, deactivate a less useful control or review the plan.

Product-card actions

• Similar lets shoppers find visually related products.
• Taste lets shoppers save products and build Your Vibe recommendations.

Both depend on plan access and usable image data.

Filters

Filters synchronize from Shopify Search and Discovery. Refresh after changing them in Shopify. VIBE can expose or hide synchronized filters, but Shopify remains the source.

Starting collections

Select synced collections that should appear as Explore entry points. A collection must be eligible and indexed before it can produce results.

Read Explore and Smart Filters.

Merchandising

Use merchandising when a merchant decision should alter result behavior for a specific query, intent, schedule, or target.

Rule list controls

• Filter by rule type.
• Search by rule name or trigger.
• Sort and drag rules to manage priority.
• Toggle active status.
• Edit or delete a rule.
• Import CSV or download the example format.
• Change the reporting period for impact metrics.

Rule fields

Every rule includes:

• Rule type and goal.
• Trigger query or intent.
• Target strategy where relevant: product, collection, tag, type, or variant.
• Target values.
• Rule-specific configuration such as pin position, synonyms, or redirect URL.
• Always-on or scheduled timing where the plan allows it.
• Active state and priority.

Saved inactive and synonym rules still count toward the plan’s rule capacity.

Read Merchandising rules.

Choose the right control

Need	Use	Why
Let shoppers express a subjective preference	Semantic control	The preference has no exact catalog field
Restrict by a known catalog value	Shopify filter	The value is factual and structured
Promote or suppress a target for a trigger	Boost or bury rule	Merchant priority should alter ranking
Force a product into a position	Pin rule	Placement must be deterministic
Treat different words as equivalent	Synonym rule	Query vocabulary needs normalization
Send a query to another destination	Redirect rule	A page or collection is the intended endpoint

Verification checklist

1. Test Explore without controls.
2. Move one control and confirm the product set changes sensibly.
3. Combine a semantic control with an exact Shopify filter.
4. Reproduce the exact merchandising trigger.
5. Confirm priority when more than one rule can match.
6. Verify inactive, scheduled, and expired behavior.
7. Compare results with Search Preview before and after the change.

Next: measure shopper behavior, inspect queries, and run controlled tests.

Measurement and testing