Search Centers
In this article we can explore the basics of Search Centers.
Search Centers Are
SharePoint Out-of-the-Box comes with the following 2 site definitions:
- Basic Search Center
- Enterprise Search Center
These site definitions create pages with pre-configured web parts. Please note that there will be multiple pages included in the site definition:
- Search Page
- Result Page
- Refiner Pages
We can use the Edit Page option to customize these pages using web parts.
Basic Search Center
Use the following procedure to create a Basic Search Center site:
From your home page choose "Site Contents" then scroll down then select the "new subsite" option.
![Subsites]()
In the page that appears enter the following details:
- Site Title
- Site URL
- Site Template as Enterprise > Basic Search Center
![New SharePoint Site]()
Click the "Create" button to create the site. You will get the following site created at http://hpvm/bsearch/default.aspx
![Search]()
You can enter some text to search for and you will see the results page at http://hpvm/bsearch/results.aspx
![Search Result]()
Enterprise Search Center
Use the following procedure to create an Enterprise Search Center site:
From your home page choose "Site Contents" then scroll down then select the "new subsite" option.
![Subsites]()
In the page that appears enter the following details:
- Site Title
- Site URL
- Site Template as Enterprise > Enterprise Search Center
![Edit in New SharePoint Site]()
Click the "Create" button to create the site. You will get the following site created at http://hpvm/esearch.
![Search in Edit Link]()
You can enter some text to search for and you will see the results page at http://hpvm/esearch/results.aspx.
![SearchResult]()
Difference between Basic and Enterprise Search Centers
Enterprise Search Centers provide the following advantages over Basic:
- It allows searching over external contents and web applications.
- Video search is supported
- Enterprise Search Center provides Navigation Verticals.
- Recommendations feature
- Query Rules and Advanced Actions
The following is the Navigation Vertical. Each link will take you to another result page.
![Navigation Vertical]()
![Note]()
Enterprise Search Center is available only in SharePoint Enterprise edition.
Result Pages
One may get confused with the result pages. I would like to provide an overview of them. By default you can search in the home page search box and you will get the following result page:
![Result Page]()
http://server/_layouts/15/osssearchresults.aspx
In the case of Basic Search Center the result page was:
http://server/bsearch/results.aspx
In the case of Basic Search Center the result page was:
http://server/esearch/results.aspx
Please note the difference in the result page name for the first URL.
References
Search in SharePoint Server 2013
Summary
In this article we explored Search Centers in SharePoint 2013.