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Tutorials · Intermediate

How to add site search to Umbraco with Examine

Build a fast site search page using Umbraco's built-in Examine (Lucene) index: a reusable search service, a search results page and tips for better relevance.

8 min read Umbraco 10 – 18 Updated 29 October 2026

How search works in Umbraco

Umbraco keeps your published content in a search index called ExternalIndex, powered by Examine and Lucene. It's updated automatically whenever you publish. You can browse it under Settings › Examine Management.

Step 1: A reusable search service

Search/SiteSearch.cs
using Examine;
using Examine.Search;
using Umbraco.Cms.Core;
using Umbraco.Cms.Core.Models.PublishedContent;
using Umbraco.Cms.Core.PublishedCache;
using Umbraco.Cms.Infrastructure.Examine;

namespace MySite.Search;

public record SearchHit(IPublishedContent Page, float Score);

public interface ISiteSearch
{
    IReadOnlyList<SearchHit> Search(string term, int take = 20);
}

public class SiteSearch(IExamineManager examineManager, IPublishedContentCache contentCache) : ISiteSearch
{
    public IReadOnlyList<SearchHit> Search(string term, int take = 20)
    {
        if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(term)
            || examineManager.TryGetIndex(Constants.UmbracoIndexes.ExternalIndexName, out IIndex? index) == false)
        {
            return [];
        }

        ISearchResults results = index.Searcher
            .CreateQuery(IndexTypes.Content)
            .ManagedQuery(term.Trim())
            .Execute(QueryOptions.SkipTake(0, take));

        return results
            .Select(r => (Result: r, Page: int.TryParse(r.Id, out int id) ? contentCache.GetById(id) : null))
            .Where(x => x.Page is not null)
            .Select(x => new SearchHit(x.Page!, x.Result.Score))
            .ToList();
    }
}

ManagedQuery searches all the text fields in the index, so you don't need to list them.

Step 2: Register it

Program.cs
builder.Services.AddScoped<ISiteSearch, SiteSearch>();

Step 3: The search page

Create a Search document type and page, then use this template:

Views/SearchPage.cshtml
@inherits Umbraco.Cms.Web.Common.Views.UmbracoViewPage
@using MySite.Search
@inject ISiteSearch SiteSearch
@{
    var term = Context.Request.Query["q"].ToString();
    var hits = SiteSearch.Search(term);
}
<form method="get" role="search">
    <label for="q">Search</label>
    <input id="q" name="q" type="search" value="@term">
    <button type="submit">Search</button>
</form>
@if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(term) == false)
{
    <p>@hits.Count result(s) for "@term"</p>
    <ol>
        @foreach (var hit in hits)
        {
            <li><a href="@hit.Page.Url()">@hit.Page.Name</a></li>
        }
    </ol>
}

Razor encodes @term automatically, so search terms can't inject HTML into your page.

Better results

  • Search specific fields with extra weight on titles: .Field("nodeName", term).Or().Field("bodyText", term).
  • Only search some document types: add .And().NodeTypeAlias("blogPost").
  • Hide pages from search: give them a hideFromSearch True/false property and filter it out with .Not().Field("hideFromSearch", "1").
  • Results missing? Rebuild ExternalIndex in Settings › Examine Management, and check the page is published.

Need a hand?

umbraco.ninja has more than 20 years of Umbraco experience. If you'd rather not do this yourself, we'll set it up, test it and hand it over.

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