Algolia Insights

Step-by-step guide to set up Algolia Insights as a destination in RudderStack.

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:

Connection Mode	Web	Mobile	Server
Device mode	-	-	-
Cloud mode	Supported	Supported	Supported

To know more about the difference between Cloud mode and Device mode in RudderStack, read 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 on Next. You should then see the following screen:

Algolia Connection Settings

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 - 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.

• Finally, click on 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 Field	Algolia Field
index	index
eventType	eventType
timestamp	timestamp
queryId	queryID
filters	filters
objectIds	objectIDs
positions	positions

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:

Field	Criteria
eventType	Values can only be either of click, view or conversion. Otherwise, the event will be discarded.
timestamp	Must be in milliseconds UNIX epoch and must be maximum 4 days old.
queryId	Must be a 32-character Hexadecimal string.
filters	Must be an array of strings. If it has more than 10 strings, only the first 10 values will be passed.
objectIds	Must be an array of strings. If it has more than 20 strings, only the first 20 values will be passed.
positions	Must be an array of integers. It must be passed for only click type events. Only the first 20 values will be passed.

For all the 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.

E-Commerce Events

For Algolia Insights, RudderStack supports the products array for two E-Commerce events product list viewed and order completed.

An example is shown below:

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

FAQs

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.

Contact Us

If you come across any issues while configuring or using Algolia Insights with RudderStack, you can contact us or start a conversation in our Slack community.