Seekmodo

Seekmodo developer docs

Reference for the REST shim, MCP JSON-RPC surface, and storefront connectors. Authenticate with HMAC; replay window is 5 minutes.

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Installing Seekmodo on BigCommerce

This guide is for store merchants. It assumes:

  • You have admin access to a BigCommerce store (Stencil, Catalyst, or Page Builder).
  • You can create a Seekmodo account (or already have a tenant) at seekmodo.com/pricing.

Enhanced Native search improvements can run without a paid plan. Cloud AI search, recommendations, and merchandising use a Seekmodo subscription (14-day trial on paid plans).

1. Install the app

  1. Open the Seekmodo on the BigCommerce App Marketplace, or start from bigcommerce-app.seekmodo.com/install while logged into your store admin.
  2. Allow the OAuth scopes Seekmodo requests:
    • Information and Settings — Read-Only
    • Products — Modify
    • Customers — Modify
    • Content — Modify
    • Channel Settings — Read-Only

2. Pair your Seekmodo tenant

  1. After OAuth you land on seekmodo.com/connect.
  2. Sign in (or create an account) and pick or create a tenant.
  3. Confirm pairing. You return to BigCommerce admin → Apps → Seekmodo.

3. Wait for the first catalog index

The connector indexes your catalog after pair. Open Apps → Seekmodo and wait until indexing shows complete before judging search quality. You can also reindex from admin.seekmodo.com.

4. Storefront search (default)

After pairing, Seekmodo registers storefront scripts for typeahead (suggest), Seekmodo-ranked search results, recommendations, and (when enabled on your account) vehicle helpers. Most Cornerstone-based themes pick these up without a theme rewrite.

Fresh installs turn on Seekmodo search results automatically: header typeahead is Seekmodo, and pressing Enter on search shows Seekmodo-ranked results on your storefront search page as soon as the first index finishes.

If you add another storefront channel later (a second Stencil storefront or Catalyst), open Apps → Seekmodo and click Sync storefronts so that channel gets the same scripts.

Those results use Seekmodo's basic product card. To make search use your theme's own listing layout, follow Match your theme's listing.

Match your theme's listing

Category pages and search pages should share a layout, and that layout is different for every theme. Seekmodo ships a basic product card. Your theme overrides that card. One store's override does not change any other store.

  1. In your Stencil theme, open templates/pages/search.html.
  2. Use the same sidebar, sort control, and product-card partial your category page already uses.
  3. Render one product card and mark the <li> (or a wrapping <template>) with data-seekmodo-card-template. Put it inside a host with aria-hidden="true" inert and clip it visually — hiding with display:none or clipping alone still leaves its links and buttons in the accessibility tree. Seekmodo clones it for each result (title, URL, price, image, product id, SKU, brand, sale/sold-out state).
  4. Pass your theme's badge settings through with data-seekmodo-badge-sale and data-seekmodo-badge-soldout — set each to {{theme_settings.product_sale_badges}} / {{theme_settings.product_sold_out_badges}} (use ../theme_settings inside an {{#each}} loop). A value of none suppresses that badge on search cards so results never show a Sale / Sold out flag your category pages hide. Omit the attributes to keep the default badge.
  5. Add an empty results area: id="seekmodo-results", data-seekmodo-theme-serp, data-seekmodo-search-results, data-state="loading", aria-live="polite". In the page head set window.__seekmodoThemeSearchOwned = true so Seekmodo fills your layout instead of replacing it.
  6. Set the storefront surface to theme_owned — Apps → Seekmodo in store admin, or ask support — so Seekmodo's paint-over script leaves your page chrome alone.

A complete example, ready to adapt:

<!-- hidden template card: Seekmodo clones this per result -->
<div class="seekmodo-card-template-host" aria-hidden="true" inert>
  {{#each product_results.products}}
    {{#if @first}}
      <ul class="productGrid">
        <li class="product" data-seekmodo-card-template
            data-seekmodo-badge-sale="{{../theme_settings.product_sale_badges}}"
            data-seekmodo-badge-soldout="{{../theme_settings.product_sold_out_badges}}">
          {{> components/products/card theme_settings=../theme_settings event="list" position=1}}
        </li>
      </ul>
    {{/if}}
  {{/each}}
</div>

<script>
  window.__seekmodoThemeSearchOwned = true;
</script>
<div id="seekmodo-results" data-seekmodo-theme-serp
     data-seekmodo-search-results data-state="loading"
     aria-live="polite"></div>

Clip the host so shoppers never see the template card (the aria-hidden + inert attributes keep it out of the accessibility tree and keyboard focus):

.seekmodo-card-template-host {
  position: absolute !important;
  width: 1px; height: 1px;
  overflow: hidden; clip: rect(0, 0, 0, 0);
}

While Seekmodo loads, the heading still shows BigCommerce's native result count — usually a different number. Hide it during the loading state with one rule in the page's <style>:

body:has([data-seekmodo-search-results][data-state="loading"]) #search-results-heading { visibility: hidden; }

Seekmodo flips data-state to ready, empty, or fallback and rewrites the heading with its own count, which releases the rule.

Cornerstone themes usually look right with the basic card and no override. A custom theme should add the override above. If the marked card is missing, Seekmodo keeps the basic card. The connector package also ships this guide as docs/storefront-snippets/stencil-search.html.md — ask support if your copy is not handy.

5. Custom fields (parts catalogs)

If part numbers or OEM / FCC fields use merchant-specific custom field names, map them in BigCommerce admin → Apps → Seekmodo (for example EZ # → ez_number).

6. Vehicle fitment (optional)

Parts stores can enable year / make / model search from admin.seekmodo.com. Vehicle helpers inject automatically when fitment is configured for your tenant. Need a custom theme vehicle picker? Contact support.

7. Verify

  • Header search typeahead returns products from your catalog.
  • Enter on search lands on your storefront search page with Seekmodo results (not only native BigCommerce cards).
  • Product pages may show Customers also bought / Related products after the index is warm.
  • Optional: set Year / Make / Model on a parts storefront that exposes the vehicle picker.

Uninstall

Uninstall from Apps → Seekmodo. Seekmodo removes its storefront scripts and soft-deletes the install pairing per our BigCommerce privacy disclosure.

Pricing

Enhanced Native is free on install. Cloud plans start at $29/mo (Hobby) with a 14-day trial. See seekmodo.com/pricing.

Support