How to add & configure Search by category in Magento 2

To add and configure the search by category functionality in Magento 2, you can follow these steps:

  1. Create a new category attribute: Go to Stores > Attributes > Product and create a new attribute for category. Make sure to set the attribute to “Visible on Catalog Pages on Frontend” and “Filterable with results” to Yes.
  2. Assign the attribute to the attribute set: Go to Stores > Attributes > Attribute Set, select the attribute set that you want to assign the attribute to, and drag and drop the new category attribute to the appropriate group.
  3. Assign categories to your products: Go to Catalog > Products and edit the products that you want to assign categories to. In the Categories section, select the appropriate category or categories.
  4. Configure the search settings: Go to Stores > Configuration > Catalog > Catalog Search and expand the “Search Engine Optimization” section. Set “Search Type” to “Like” and “Enable Search by Category” to “Yes”.
  5. Reindex the catalog: Go to System > Tools > Index Management and reindex the catalog.

Once you have completed these steps, the search by category functionality should be available on your Magento 2 store. Your customers will be able to search for products by category using the search bar on your site.