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OpenSearch

OpenSearch lets users install your site as a native search engine in their browser and search directly from the address bar.

search directly from address bar in your browser

Upload an opensearch.xml file with the following content to your server:

<OpenSearchDescription xmlns="http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearch/1.1/" 
    xmlns:moz="http://www.mozilla.org/2006/browser/search/">
    <ShortName>SHORT_NAME</ShortName>
    <Description>DESCRIPTION</Description>
    <InputEncoding>UTF-8</InputEncoding>
    <Tags>TAGS</Tags>
    <Image height="16" width="16" type="image/x-icon">
        https://samplesite.com/favicon.ico
    </Image>
    <Url type="text/html" template="https://samplesite.com?ss360Query={searchTerms}&ref=opensearch"/>
    <moz:SearchForm>
        https://samplesite.com/
    </moz:SearchForm>
</OpenSearchDescription>

Replace the following placeholders:

  • SHORT_NAME — your website name (16 characters or fewer)
  • DESCRIPTION — a brief description of what users can search for
  • TAGS — a few comma-separated keywords describing your site
  • https://samplesite.com/favicon.ico — link to your favicon or icon
  • https://samplesite.com — your website URL
  • ss360Query — replace only if you've customised results.searchQueryParamName in your ss360Config (default is ss360Query)

Then reference the file in the <head> of your page:

<link rel="search" type="application/opensearchdescription+xml" href="/opensearch.xml" title="TITLE">