Use multi-site search management to run multiple search experiences from one Search App while keeping profile-level control for each site, audience, or use case.
In SearchStax Site Search, multi-site search management is an approach that combines Apps, Languages, Search Profiles, and profile-level settings. It is not a single toggle or standalone feature.
Note: For object definitions and hierarchy, see Understanding Apps, Languages, and Search Profiles.
What Multi-Site Search Management Means
This term describes how you coordinate existing Site Search features to manage different search pages and experiences.
- Apps: separate environments, brands, or access boundaries
- Languages: language-specific behavior and analytics inside an App
- Search Profiles: experience-specific relevance, filtering, ranking, and presentation settings
Together, these objects let you centralize governance while tuning each search experience for a different site, audience, or use case.
When to Use Multiple Search Profiles in One App
Use multiple Search Profiles when your sites or experiences share indexed content but need different search behavior.
Common scenarios include:
- different campus locations with different location preferences
- different content priorities, such as academic content versus administrative content
- department-specific search behavior
- audience-specific search experiences
Profile-Level Settings You Can Customize Per Experience
Each Search Profile can maintain its own configuration for:
- Results Fields
- Sorting
- Location
- Faceting
- Promotions
- Search Fields
- Ranking
- Data Filters
- Rules
Note: Aggregated analytics are available under All Profiles. To populate profile-level analytics, include model in tracking events. Earlier data is not retroactively assigned to profiles.
Applying Changes Across Multiple Profiles
When an App has more than one profile, the Save to Profile(s) workflow lets you choose where profile-level changes are applied.
- Open the configuration you want to edit, such as Results Fields, Sorting, Location, Faceting, or Promotions.
- Make your changes.
- Select Save Draft or Publish.
- In Select Profile(s), choose the target:
- Current profile only
- Multiple selected profiles
- All profiles
- Complete the save or publish action.
Note: When you apply changes to multiple profiles, the entire configuration category is overwritten in each selected target profile.
Recommended Approach
- Use App-level controls for shared infrastructure and oversight.
- Use Profile-level settings for experience-specific behavior.
- Use Save to Profile(s) when standardization is required across multiple experiences.
- Use profile-specific publishing when experiences need to remain independent.
Example: University with Multiple Campuses
A university can run one App and multiple profiles for different campus experiences:
- Main Campus Profile: default relevance and main-campus location settings
- Medical Campus Profile: different sorting priorities and medical-campus location settings
- Online Programs Profile: no location weighting and profile-specific ranking behavior
This pattern keeps governance centralized while allowing each experience to be tuned independently.