Shopify FAQ search, inside the FAQ widget, is for the shopper who will not open twenty accordions to find a shipping sentence. Product FAQs for AI Crawler includes a live search box that filters the list as the person types. The match is a substring of the question text and of the answer text. Load More sits beside that, revealing further items in batches. Both are part of the storefront widget, including on the free plan. The feature catalog does not publish a product count for that plan.
This box does not replace Shopify's product search. Typing "hem" into the FAQ widget hides the FAQ rows that do not contain that text. Typing "hem" into store search looks for products. If you need both, keep both. Hiding the theme search and hoping the FAQ box will find a product will fail, because the FAQ box only knows the questions and answers in that widget.
How the filter behaves
The shopper types, and the list narrows to rows whose question or answer contains that substring. A word that appears only in the answer still matches. That matters when the question is "How should I wash this?" and the answer contains "cold water" or "mesh bag." A shopper who remembers the care detail can find the row without remembering your heading.
The filter is local to the FAQ on the page. It does not search other products' FAQs, the blog, or the catalog. On a product page it searches the group shown for that product. On a shop-wide FAQ page it searches the global group that block is rendering. Write the words shoppers use. If support calls it a "turnaround" and shoppers type "how long to ship," put "ship" in the answer so the substring exists.
- Question text: included in the substring filter.
- Answer text: included in the same filter, so the body of the answer is searchable.
- Scope: the FAQ widget on that page, not store product search.
Load More, and when to use it
Each group has a pagination size. Load More reveals hidden items in batches of that size. Use it when the full list would make the product page long, and you still want every answer available. The shopper who knows the topic can search. The shopper who wants to browse can reveal the next batch. Opening an accordion and using Load More are both interaction events in the app's analytics. An impression is counted once per FAQ group on a page load.
Search is worth the box when the list is long enough that scanning fails. A product with three fit questions does not need a filter. A store FAQ page that mixes shipping, returns, wholesale, and repairs does. You can still keep those topics in separate groups. A global group for policies and a product group for fit is clearer than one enormous list with a search box papering over the mix.
Groups and categories behind the widget
Categories organize groups in the admin. You can create, rename, and delete them. Deleting a category keeps the FAQs and clears the assignment. The admin list also searches by group name and filters by category, with status tabs and pagination of its own. That admin search is for you. The storefront box is for the shopper, and it searches question and answer text, not your admin category names, unless those words also appear in the FAQ copy.
Templates do not remove the search box from the catalog's description of the widget. Accordion, Grid/cards, Boxed, and Minimal are the four layouts, chosen per block. Accordion plus search is a common pair on a long help page: the rows stay compact, and the box jumps to the row. Grid/cards can show more questions at once, which sometimes reduces the need to search. Look at the real page before you decide the list is too long.
A test query before you launch
Publish a group that includes one distinctive word in an answer, not in the question. On the storefront, type that word into the FAQ box. The row should remain, and unrelated rows should drop out. Then type a product title that is not in the FAQ. The widget should not return products. If it does, you are typing in the theme's search, not the FAQ box.
Try Load More until the last item appears, and confirm the pagination size matches what you set on the group. Reload the page. The list should render from the metafield saved with the group. Display does not call the app backend. Analytics can still send an impression when the group is shown. Clear the search box and confirm the full first batch returns. A filter that sticks after a reload is a bug worth fixing before you send traffic to the page.
Write the answer with the shopper's word in it, even if the heading uses a more formal term. "Dispatch" in the question and "ship" in the answer gives both searches a match. If the inbox says "cm" and the FAQ says only "centimetres," add the short form once so the substring exists. The listing is Product FAQs for AI Crawler.
- Search a word that appears only in an answer.
- Search a product name that is not in the FAQ and confirm the widget stays on FAQs.
- Use Load More through the last item.
- Repeat on a phone width, where the box is easier to miss.
Questions about FAQ search
Does FAQ search find products?
No. It filters question and answer text in the FAQ widget. Product search stays in the theme.
Is the box only on a paid plan?
The app presents search and Load More on the free plan card. The feature catalog describes them as widget behavior and does not publish a product cap for that plan.
Will search read text inside an image?
No. It filters the question and answer text you saved. Put the words in the answer if you want them found.
See the search box and Load More on Product FAQs for AI Crawler. Add the box when the list is long, and keep the theme search for products.