How the search radius option works

When you type a search on your store locator, the map starts at the center of the searched area and then looks outwards to find stores up to a certain distance away. This distance is called the search radius and affects which stores are shown when searching your map.

How the search radius works

Stockist searches for stores based on their distance from a specific search point, not based on the geographic boundaries of the city or postcode searched for. This can be surprising, but in most cases it tends to give better results.

For example, take a visitor searching for stores near Vancouver, Canada. If we were to search based on the geographic boundary (city limits), only a few of the nearby stores would be shown (the ones with pins in green):

There are more stores nearby, however, they aren't technically within the city limits.

Instead, our search system drops an invisible pin at the center of the city and finds any stores within a certain distance from that pin:

That search distance is called the search radius. 

How the search radius is chosen

For maps using our fixed search mode, all searches use the same radius. You can choose the search radius for your map in the Stockist dashboard under Settings > Search behavior. If you have fewer stores, a larger search radius is recommended to help ensure your locator shows results. On the other hand, if you have thousands of retailers, you may prefer a smaller radius to ensure results are relevant.

For maps using our newer live search mode, the search radius is calculated automatically based on the size of the area that's typed in. For example, searching for "California" will automatically use a broader radius than searching for "Los Angeles". This helps provide more natural results no matter what visitors type in. Searching for small areas (e.g. a town or small postcode) will use a minimum radius of 25mi or 25km (depending on your settings), but our support team can increase this minimum for your map if you reach out.