Search on a website is an important tool that increases sales and makes communication with visitors convenient. In this article, we explain step by step how to add a search bar yourself, create a connection to databases, and optimize this process using PHP.
Why every website needs a search
Users are used to receiving information instantly. Without a search, they will have to look through many pages to find the information they need. This can lead to disappointment: the visitor will leave the site without buying anything.
In addition, the search acts as a navigation tool. It helps navigate the cambodia phone number data structure of the site, and thanks to this, users can easily find the products, sections, and materials they need.
How PHP search on a website works
The main components of the search are the input line, the button, and the result (the HTML block that displays the results received from the server).
PHP is focused on server-side request processing. The user enters characters into the form, clicks the button.
And the request is sent to the server for processing.
The process of PHP search on a website can be divided into several stages:
Receiving a search query from the user. The visitor enters keywords, and PHP processes it and sends it to the server, where the search will be performed.
Query processing on the server
The PHP script receives the query and generates an SQL query to search the database.
Search. The database processes omnichannel marketing: how to combine all channels for maximum efficiency the query, matching the user’s keywords with the corresponding records.
Output of results. PHP processes the search results and generates a page with the found records.
As a result, the user sees a list of what was found: articles, products, or other data that match the query. Let’s take a closer look at how to create a search on a website and connect PHP to it.
Step 1. Creating a search on a website
First, you need to create a basic search bar, which will serve as an entry point. Programming the interface will require using HTML elements and styling with CSS. We wrote about this in more detail in the previous article.
The search form is a simple HTML structure that includes a text field by lists and a button for submitting the form. When the user enters text and clicks the button, the request is sent to the server, where PHP processes it and returns the corresponding results. An example of creating an HTML search: