Choosing the Right Search Implementation: Templates, Building your own, or Custom SERPs

23 Apr, 2025 Implementation

When implementing Cludo search on your website, you have two primary approaches:

  1. Use MyCludo’s built-in search templates (Inline or Overlay) to quickly embed a ready-made search interface.
  2. Develop a custom search interface yourself using Cludo’s API or React libraries.

Both approaches will deliver search results from your Cludo engine, but they differ in setup time, flexibility, and maintenance. Here are the key differences and considerations for each path:

Cludo Global Templates (Out-of-the-Box Solution)

Cludo provides two pre-built front-end templates which you can enable directly via the MyCludo platform.

  • Inline Template: Renders the SERP (search engine result page) on a dedicated page on your site (you typically link to a “search results” page).
  • Overlay Template: Displays results in an overlay popup on whatever page the user is on, similar to an on-page modal.

Using a template is straightforward. MyCludo can generate the script and HTML snippet for you to place on your site​. You can read more about implementing templates in this article.

Advantages of Templates:

  • Ease of Implementation: No advanced coding required. Copy-paste the provided code into your site’s HTML. For most customers, this means you can get search up and running in minutes.
  • Safe and Supported: The templates are maintained by Cludo. They are tested across devices and browsers​, and Cludo will update them for improvements or browser changes. This means less upkeep on your end.
  • Includes Standard Features: Cludo’s templates support common features like filters (facets), language selection, and result sorting etc. These can be configured directly in MyCludo when generating your template snippet, or further customized in your implementation by adjusting the search script. To learn more about customizing your search script, please read this article.
  • Basic Customization via CSS: You can override the default styling (fonts, colors) by adding CSS to your site. The template’s HTML structure is known, so you can target its elements. For instance, if you want the results titles to use your brand font or color, you can include a stylesheet after the template code to adjust that.

Developing your own Search Interface

A custom implementation means you’ll use Cludo’s search API or search libraries to fetch results and then render them on your site with your own code. Essentially, you’re building the search results page from scratch or with a framework of your choice.

Custom implementations give you full control, but require development skills, ongoing maintenance, and manual setup for analytics tracking. Expect a steeper learning curve compared to using Cludo’s standard templates.

Advantages of Custom Development:

  • Total Control Over UI/UX: You can design the search experience exactly as you want. The placement of elements, the animations, the way results are displayed is all of it is up to you. This is ideal if you need to integrate search into an existing application or follow the same strict style guidelines.
  • Using our React Storybook: You may prefer to use frameworks like React. Cludo offers a React component library to simplify building a custom SERP in React (complete with pre-built components for search box, results list, pagination, etc.). If using React, you can take advantage of that library for faster development while still keeping it “your own”.
  • Custom Features: If you want to implement features that Cludo’s standard template doesn’t support, custom is the way. You may want to include specific crawler fields in the result that standard templates doesn’t support, or perhaps after each search you want to log something to an internal analytics system which is also only possible with custom code.

Implementing a “Custom SERP”?

SERP stands for Search Engine Results Page which is basically, the page that shows your search results.  In Cludo’s context, a Custom SERP refers specifically to a fully custom search interface that our implementation team designs and builds for you, as a paid service. It’s a tailor-made solution created to match your branding, functional needs, and user experience goals.

Unlike using Cludo’s out-of-the-box templates or building your own search integration, a Custom SERP is handled entirely by Cludo. We build the frontend, set up the crawlers and engines and host and maintain the search script for you.

Which Implementation Should You Choose?

Standard template

  • You want the fastest, easiest way to launch search.
  • You’re okay with the default layout and just need to tweak colors or styling.
  • You have limited technical resources or want a no-code solution.

Developing your own search

  • You want full control over the design and behavior of your search experience.
  • You have in-house developers or a partner agency.
  • You need to deeply integrate search into a complex site or app.

Request a Cludo-Built Custom SERP if:

  • You want Cludo to fully manage the frontend implementation and hosting.
  • You want a custom, professionally designed search interface built for your needs.
  • You don’t have time or resources to build and host it yourself.

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