A practical guide to the ServiceNow AI Search Catalog

When an employee needs help, the last thing they want is to get stuck wrestling with a clunky search bar. A good search function can be the difference between a quick, happy self-service experience and another frustrated ticket landing in your IT queue.

ServiceNow's answer to this is the ServiceNow AI Search Catalog. It’s designed to be a smarter, more intuitive search experience that understands what users mean, not just what they type. The promise is that it can deliver the right catalog items and knowledge articles at the right moment.

But how well does it actually work? What are the catches you should know about before you dive in? This guide will walk you through its core features, the real-world challenges you might face, and why a more flexible approach might be a better fit for your team.

What is the ServiceNow AI Search Catalog?

At its heart, the ServiceNow AI Search Catalog is an advanced search engine built right into the platform. It's a big step up from older keyword-based search tools (like the Zing engine some of you might remember). This one uses artificial intelligence and natural language understanding (NLU) to figure out the intent behind what someone is asking.

The goal is to give people more relevant results from your Service Catalog and Knowledge Bases. So, instead of just matching words, it tries to understand the context. For example, if someone types "my computer is slow," AI Search should be smart enough to show them articles on performance troubleshooting or a catalog item to request a laptop upgrade, not just every document with the word "computer" in it.

You'll find it integrated into ServiceNow apps like Service Portal, Now Mobile, and Virtual Agent, all aiming to give employees and customers a more modern search experience.

Key features and common challenges

ServiceNow AI Search is a pretty powerful tool, but getting the most out of it means you need to get the configuration right and be aware of its limitations. Let's break down its main features and the common hurdles teams run into.

Semantic search and NLU

The big idea behind AI Search is its use of semantic search to understand the meaning behind queries. It's built to recognize synonyms, acronyms, and even company-specific jargon to pull up better results. For instance, it can learn that "new hire setup" and "employee onboarding" refer to the same thing.

Here's the catch: this intelligence isn't always automatic. A quick look at the community forums shows that admins often find their company's internal lingo gets ignored without some manual tweaking. To make certain terms or fields searchable, you often have to roll up your sleeves and dive into the settings. For example, if you want the "meta" tags on a catalog item to be searchable, you have to:

1. Go to the Indexed Source for the catalog item table ("sc_cat_item").

2. Find the "meta" field under the Field Settings and Mappings tab.

3. Manually switch its "not_searchable" attribute to "false".

4. Kick off a re-index of the source table.

If you don't take these steps, all those helpful keywords you added might as well be invisible. It highlights a real challenge: while AI Search is powerful, it often needs a lot of technical know-how to behave the way you expect, which kind of defeats the purpose of an "out-of-the-box" smart solution.

Search sources and indexing

AI Search can index content from different places within ServiceNow, like your catalog items and knowledge base articles. You can control what gets searched by setting up "Search Sources" and tying them to a "Search Profile," which is handy for creating different search experiences for different user groups.

The main roadblock here is that AI Search is happiest when it stays within ServiceNow's own ecosystem. Its main job is to search content that already lives on the platform. If your company's knowledge is scattered across other systems like Confluence, Google Docs, or a bunch of internal PDFs, getting them into the search isn't simple. It usually means dealing with separate connectors, extra licensing for tools like IntegrationHub, and the headache of ongoing maintenance.

This is a big deal for companies that use a mix of best-in-class tools. A truly useful search should bring all your knowledge together, no matter where it's stored. Trying to force everything into one platform just isn't realistic. This is where tools like eesel AI take a different path, offering one-click integrations with over 100 common apps to unify your knowledge without the complicated setup.

An infographic showing how eesel AI connects with multiple knowledge sources like Slack, Notion, and Zendesk to create a unified knowledge base, a challenge for the ServiceNow AI Search Catalog.

Result prioritization and genius results

ServiceNow gives you "Result Improvement Rules" to manually nudge the search rankings. You can use these to "boost" certain items for specific keywords. For example, you could make a rule that your "new laptop" order guide always shows up first.

It also has a feature called "Genius Results," which are little interactive cards that give direct answers or actions. But people often find these features to be a bit rigid. A common request is to simply make catalog items show up before knowledge articles, but there's no easy switch for that. Instead, you're stuck building complicated rules that can be a pain to manage.

On top of that, some features have annoying little limitations. The "AI Search Assist" widget, which is supposed to give real-time suggestions as someone fills out a form, only works for Record Producers, not for your standard Catalog Items. This kind of inconsistency can make for a confusing and clunky user experience.

Pricing

Good luck finding a price for AI Search on ServiceNow's website. It's typically bundled into their higher-tier packages like ITSM Pro or Enterprise. To get any real numbers, you have to talk to their sales team.

This lack of transparency makes it tough to budget and figure out what you're really paying for. You might have to upgrade your entire ServiceNow package just to get the search features, which is a pretty big investment. This is a world away from modern AI solutions that offer clear, predictable pricing. For example, eesel AI has straightforward plans based on what you use, so there are no hidden fees or forced upgrades. You can start small and grow from there.

A screenshot of eesel AI's transparent pricing page, which contrasts with the opaque pricing model of the ServiceNow AI Search Catalog.

A more flexible approach to AI search

While ServiceNow AI Search is built deep into the platform, it often demands a lot of technical work and keeps you locked into the ServiceNow world. If your team needs something fast, flexible, and that works with the tools you already have, you might need a different approach.

This is where a solution like eesel AI makes a lot of sense. It's designed to be a self-serve platform that you can connect to your existing help desk (including ServiceNow) and all your knowledge sources in minutes, not months.

One-click integrations to unify all your knowledge

Instead of messing around with complicated connectors, eesel AI gives you one-click integrations with over 100 platforms. You can instantly connect it to:

• Help desks: Zendesk, Freshdesk, Intercom, Jira Service Management, and others.

• Company wikis: Confluence, Google Docs, Notion, and SharePoint.

• Chat tools: Slack and Microsoft Teams.

This means your AI agent learns from all your company knowledge right away, giving more complete and accurate answers without you having to move any data. It even learns from your past ticket history to pick up on your company's tone and common fixes automatically.

The eesel AI platform showing how easy it is to connect various knowledge sources, a more flexible alternative to the ServiceNow AI Search Catalog.

Full control and risk-free testing

One of the biggest headaches with ServiceNow AI Search is the lack of easy control and the fear of pushing a change that breaks something. eesel AI tackles this head-on:

• A simple workflow engine: You get fine-grained control over what the AI does. You can create rules to handle specific kinds of tickets and set up custom actions, like having it look up order info from Shopify or triage a ticket.

• Powerful simulation mode: Before you ever go live, you can test your AI on thousands of your past tickets. This shows you exactly how it will perform and what its resolution rate will be, so you can launch knowing it's going to work. No more crossing your fingers and hoping for the best.

The eesel AI simulation mode dashboard, which allows for risk-free testing, a feature not easily available with the ServiceNow AI Search Catalog.

Transparent pricing without penalties

Unlike the murky pricing of big enterprise platforms, eesel AI has clear, predictable plans based on usage. There are no fees per resolution, so you don't get punished for being busy. With a month-to-month option, you can get started without being locked into a long-term contract.

Feature	ServiceNow AI Search Catalog	eesel AI
Setup Time	Weeks to months; needs an admin to configure	Minutes; completely self-serve
Knowledge Sources	Mostly ServiceNow; external sources are a pain	100+ one-click integrations (Google Docs, Confluence, Slack, etc.)
Customization	Rigid; requires technical setup of rules	Simple prompt editor and workflow engine for custom actions
Testing	Pretty much limited to live testing	Powerful simulation mode on your historical tickets
Pricing Model	Bundled in Pro/Enterprise plans; call sales	Transparent, usage-based plans; no per-resolution fees

Get smarter search without the ServiceNow AI Search Catalog complexity

So, is the ServiceNow AI Search Catalog worth it? It’s a step in the right direction, but it’s not a magic wand. It often comes with a steep learning curve, frustrating limitations, and a strong preference for keeping you inside the ServiceNow bubble.

For teams that just want a fast, powerful, and flexible solution that works with the tools they already love, a dedicated AI platform is probably the smarter choice. With its instant integrations, helpful simulation mode, and clear pricing, eesel AI offers a modern alternative that gives your users a better search experience and your team a much simpler life.

Ready to see what a truly unified AI search can do? Try eesel AI for free.