You can access the general settings from the settings dropdown menu inside the IDX Control Panel.

The search settings configure the display on the default search page as well as the data feed for the website. This includes limiting the available search areas, adjusting the initial default search map to a desired location, and choosing what types of listings you wish to display on your website.

Consumer-Facing Search Interface

There are two different styles of the search form:

Streamlined Search Form

The streamlined search form utilizes some basic filters, such as location, price, beds, and baths. The streamlined form has a "More" button that houses the majority of the filters. We recommend this form for multiple reasons:

• If your client has more than one MLS feed on the website, you must use this form
• If you are using the left-side map display, you must use this form
• It's all-around a better search experience for consumers

Filters located within the “More” button include: 

• • Listing Filters (For Sale, For Rent, All listings)
  • Property Type filters (Single family homes, Condos, etc)
  • Listing Activity (Upcoming open houses, recent price change, etc)
  • Must-Have Amenities (Garage, Basement, Fireplace, etc) - The amenity filters, when checked, perform as a "yes" filter. For example, selecting the waterfront amenity will ensure that homes with a waterfront are shown in the search, pulling in listings from each MLS feed
  • Listing Status (varies from MLS to MLS)
  • Listing Type (New Construction, Foreclosure, Short Sales)
  • Search for School or District
  • Search for MLS ID Number
  • Additional filters (square feet, lot size, year built, days online, HOA/Condo/Coop Fees)

Advanced Search Form

If your client has a single MLS, this can be a great version of the search to try. The filters provided entirely depend on what the MLS provides to Showcase IDX in the data feed, and not all fields in your MLS will be made available in the IDX.

This search form has most of the same filters that the Streamlined search form has, such as location, price, beds, baths, sale types, property types, and listing types. Additional filters, such as status, search for school or district, year built, open houses, etc. can be found by clicking the blue Advanced Search link. If looking for more specific filters, you can select one of the 4 feature buckets (General, Interior, Exterior, Community) to find even more filters:

Default Search Appearance

Map Display Option

The default search appearance can be configured either as a top map view or a left-side map view as shown in the example image. 

Left-Side Map (Premium Feature)

The left-side map view is the default setting for all newly created accounts, as long as they are subscribed to the Premium plan. The left-side map view is designed to be full-width on the website. It should be noted that the container that you placed the shortcode for the default search page into may not allow the search to display full width. In this case, you will need to adjust your page settings.

For example, Elementor has the option to update a section within a page to be full-width as shown below.

Top Map

The top map display is the only option on the Essentials plan and when using the advanced search form. If on the Premium plan, enable the top map display by turning off the left-side map display toggle. This map display is also designed to be full-width.

Setting Default Search Criteria

The default search appearance section is where you can define the initial criteria for the main search page using the available options.

For example, if your client has 3 cities that are their feature markets, you can add these locations to the default search appearance as locations, as shown below. The main search page then will show results from these three cities initially but can be edited by the consumer when visiting the page.

Searching by Location

The 'Enter Location or Keyword' area is a dynamic field that accepts a multitude of different search options: city, county, zip code, full address, street name, subdivision, building, or keyword.  

• Beware of name variations:  The included location filtering options are very powerful and do not take into account variations of location names in certain MLS feeds: for instance, subdivisions or buildings could have several variations, like Bal Harbour. There could be values like Bal Harbour Center Condo, Bal Harbour Tower Condo, Bal Harbour 101, etc. Select all that apply to the search.
• It is recommended when applying location filtering to only use one type of location. For example: if you filter by city to start, the rest of your filters should also be by city. Adding a combination of City, County, and Subdivision will broaden the search to show results from each, as opposed to narrowing it down.
• There must be a listing in an available status that fits the search criteria to yield results. For example: if an agent would like to only focus on condos in a particular building, there must be a current listing in that building for the building name to populate in the search form.  A workaround for this example would be to use the Draw tool.

Additional Filters

The agent can select more filters such as price, beds, baths, features, etc.  For the main search page, it is typically recommended to not add too many filters. A consumer can always add or remove filters, but you should leave this page's results to be as broad as possible as consumers' search needs vary. For agents who want to restrict their data feed to only show certain properties site-wide, see Search Restrictions below.

Map

The default search map can be used to define a location as well. Using the map will override any location filters added using the 'Enter Location or Keyword' field. There are additional functions with the map that you can use, as well:

• Draw tool/Polygon Search is a flexible draw tool used to do a pinpoint drawing of a particular area.  Draw either a rounded shape or a sharp edges polygon shape. This is especially useful when there is a specific search area the agent would like to limit listings in the search results to a specific area.  Alternatively, this is a good option if there is a particular area/building without an active listing.  Using the draw tool will override the location filter. For more info, read this article.
• Zoom options let you zoom in and out on the map. You can only set a zoom level when using the 'Search in Map' feature.
• Search in Map feature will override the polygon and the search field and will use the map’s location to source listings. A thick border is placed around the map and listings will only appear in the defined map area.

Results Sorting

To sort the listing results, choose from Map Center, Newest Listing, Highest Price, Lowest Price, Price Change, Bedrooms, Bathrooms, and Square Feet.

Result Type is only available when using the Advanced Search, and the options are either Card/Grid (default) or list. Card/Grid is the default when using the Left Side Map display.

Search Restrictions

This section controls the data feed for the entire website. Use caution when applying search restrictions! 

Oftentimes, customers reach out about listings missing from their feed. This is the first place to check as usually, the listings fall outside of the search parameters. In this case, edit the search restrictions to either remove the restrictive filtering or add more options to it to be more inclusive.

For example, the agent says a listing in Rabun County is missing from their website. Checking the restrictions reveals that they have opted to 'allow search only' in Cobb County. In this case, you can add Rabun County as a location, or remove Cobb County from the restrictions entirely.

Location Filtering

You can Allow Search Only In These Locations or Exclude Locations from the search entirely. The location filters really should only be used if you have a limited search area (such as counties or zip codes) and do not want any other listings from the MLS to show on your site. It is recommended to only restrict locations by one type of location. For example, only counties, not counties and cities.

Sale Price Filter

Set the site’s minimum and/or maximum price for viewable listings. When setting a price filter, listings under or above the prices entered will not be searchable on the website.

Sale Type Filter

Select the appropriate listing types to be searchable on the website.  For example, if the agent does not work with rental properties, then uncheck the "For Rent" box and all rentals will disappear from the site and will not be indexed by Google;

Listing Type Filter

Select the appropriate listing types to be searchable on the website. The options here are based on what the MLS provides, but usually, these options include New Construction, Foreclosure, and Short Sale.

Property Type Filter

Select the appropriate listing types to be searchable on the website. The options here are based on what the MLS provides, but usually, these options include Single Family Homes, Multi-family, Land, Condo, Townhouse, etc. While Commercial data may be available in some MLS feeds, the search is mainly focused on residential property types. For more info about RESO property types, see this blog post.

Status Filter

Select the appropriate listing types to be searchable on the website. The options here are based on what the MLS provides, but usually, these options include at least Active status. Some MLSs provide Coming Soon status, or Pending status. We do not feature sold data/