Algolia Insights

Algolia is a popular site search and discovery platform. It helps businesses build and optimize their users’ product search and discovery experience, resulting in enhanced online engagement, increased conversion rates, and better user lifetime value.

RudderStack supports Algolia Insights as a destination to which you can seamlessly send your customer data.

Getting started

Before configuring Algolia Insights as a destination in RudderStack, verify if the source platform is supported by Algolia by referring to the table below:

To learn more about the difference between cloud mode and device mode in RudderStack, refer to the RudderStack Connection Modes guide.

Once you have confirmed that your source platform supports sending events to Algolia, follow these steps:

• From your RudderStack dashboard, add the source. From the list of destinations, select Algolia.
• Assign a name to the destination and click Next. You should then see the following screen:

Connection settings

This section details the connection settings required to configure Algolia as a destination in RudderStack.

• Enter your Algolia API Key and Application ID.

To get the Algolia API key and Application ID, go to your Algolia dashboard. Under the API Keys menu, copy the values under Application ID and Search-Only API Key.

• Under Event Settings, you can add the Event Name and its corresponding Event Type. These are optional fields and can also be passed via the track call.

The event-eventType mapping passed via the track call will get a higher precedence over the mapping specified in the dashboard.

If the event-eventType mapping is not specified in the dashboard and these fields are not passed in the track call as well, then the event will be discarded.

• Finally, click Next. Algolia will now be enabled as a destination in RudderStack.

Track

The track call lets you send events related to your customers’ product usage. The required fields are event, eventType, index, and either objectIds or filters.

Note that the Event Name (event) and Event Type (eventType) can be mapped in the dashboard while configuring the destination. Note that the eventType value set in properties in the track call will have a higher precedence over the dashboard mapping.

In case you have already specified the mapping in the dashboard, you don’t need to send the same eventType in the track call.

To send a new event via track which is not specified in the dashboard, make sure you include the eventType inside the properties of the call. Otherwise, the event will be discarded.

The following table includes all track fields with their relative mapping to the Algolia fields:

RudderStack looks for these fields within the properties field of the event payload. userId or anonymousId is mapped to userToken in Algolia.

A sample track call is as shown:

rudderanalytics.track("event name", {
  eventType: "click",
  index: "index1",
  timestamp: 1630649198801,
  objectIds: ["objId1", "objId2"],
  positions: [1, 2],
  queryId: "e28d338dbfbbdcb4678d9d30a5e286ee"
});

To successfully send events to Algolia, the following criteria must be met:

For all event types (eventType), either filters or objectIds must be passed and not both. If both or none of the fields are passed, the event will be discarded.

For the click event type, if you pass objectIds, then you must pass either both or none of the positions and queryId fields. If only either of the fields are present, the event will be discarded.

Also, the length of objectIds and positions arrays should be equal. Otherwise, the event will be discarded.

Ecommerce events

For Algolia Insights, RudderStack supports the products array for two ecommerce events - Product List Viewed and Order Completed.

An example is shown below:

rudderanalytics.track("product list viewed", {
  index: "index1",
  products: [
    {
      objectId: "objectId",
      position: 1
    }
  ]
});

FAQ

What happens if the Event Name - Event Type mapping is not specified in the dashboard as well as in the track call?

If the Event - Event Type mapping is not specified in the dashboard and these fields are not passed in the track call as well, then the event will be discarded.

Questions? Contact us by email or on Slack