Smart Groups in the Composition API now support placement of results from external sources, such as Retail Media Networks or recommendation engines. At query-time, external objectIDs can be passed and placed into predefined Smart Groups, with flexible options to preserve external ranking or re-rank using AI and Index Rules. In Merchandising Studio, users can preview Smart Group placeholders in the Visualize page and configure them in the Composition Rule Editor. This enhancement streamlines integration of external results, giving retailers and marketplaces more control, visibility, and impact on engagement and revenue. Click here to learn more.

Collection limits have been significantly increased to support larger-scale operations. Premium plans now include 500 collections per index, Elevate plans support 1,000 collections per index, with each collection supporting up to 10,000 manual records and 50 conditions. This reduces trade-offs between campaigns and enables more targeted seasonal collections for improved user engagement.

Get a clear overview of your Rules with Rules Analytics. See how many are inactive, expired, stale, or low-impact, at a glance. Easily filter and act on them directly from the analytics view or within Rules management to improve or clean up your setup.

Algolia's Visual Editor now supports multi-item drag and drop, making bulk pinning changes more convenient and faster. Simply select which items to move and drag them to the desired position before or after other items in your results grid. 

Collections no longer require calling the Push Task to stay up to date. You can now apply transformations using supported API clients (Go, Java, JavaScript, PHP, Python), which handle ingestion automatically. This reduces setup friction and helps business users get started faster. Click here to learn more.

Business users can now generate product collections using natural language prompts like “vintage dresses with a floral print.” Powered by NeuralSearch, this enhancement automatically curates relevant items based on semantic relevance. It reduces manual work, speeds up collection creation, and helps teams respond quickly to seasonal trends and merchandising needs. Click here to learn more. 

We've enhanced Smart Group workflows in Merchandising Studio’s Visual Editor, enabling streamlined curation across Search, Categories, and Collections. Combine index-level optimization with strategic Smart Group placement in your Compositions - all in connected, intuitive flows and through one visual interface. What's more, you can easily curate individual Groups and gain new explainability insights - for example, into the ranking factors behind them.

Collections now support Smart Group injections, enabling business users to boost visibility for priority items like "Sponsored Products" or "Top Picks" within existing collections. You can either use already existing Smart Groups or create new ones specifically for collections, providing flexible control over product presentation while maintaining your existing collection structure. Click here to learn more.

Merchandisers can now search for any product displayed in the Visual Editor using the new Find in results bar, even if the item is initially not visible or in the loaded results. This improvement removes the previous limitation of browser-based search (Command+F), enabling users to locate and act on any result, regardless of its initial position. The searched product is highlighted in its current position (e.g., position 465), allowing users to scroll directly to it for quickly merchandising those products as needed.  A new shortcut (Command+B on Mac, Ctrl+B on Windows) quickly triggers this functionality, improving speed and usability for large merchandising sets. This feature is now available to all customers with access to the Visual Editor.

Merchandisers can now schedule rules to start or end independently, without being forced to define both a start and end date. This added flexibility helps manage evergreen campaigns, future-dated promotions, and simplifies rule management directly in the Visual and Manual Editors.