In this tutorial, we explored how to implement full-text search in a Laravel application, enabling efficient and scalable search functionality for large datasets. Starting from setting up a fresh Laravel project, we defined a Post model, created migrations to structure the database, and used Laravel factories to seed sample data for testing.
We leveraged MySQL’s MATCH...AGAINST for basic full-text search, allowing us to search across multiple columns and retrieve relevant results. The tutorial also showcased how to rank results by relevance, improving the search experience for users. Additionally, we built a clean and reusable layout for the application, designed simple CSS to replace external frameworks, and created dynamic views for the search index, results, and individual post details.