Edit the search results page?

Question

I would like to edit the search results page to include a side bar with content such as some links, can someone please tell me the file to edit? Do I need to create a new template?

Help me out please.

Answer 1

You could use a CMS static block widget for this.

1. In the admin panel, head to CMS > Static Blocks and create your content
2. Then in CMS > Widgets, select CMS Static Block Widget
3. Select your theme
4. Choose your static block in Widget Options
5. In Layout Updates, choose "Specified Page", and then select the search page(s) and location where you want to display this block

Answer 2

In local.xml file you can change the layout and can add/remove blocks in the left or right column. For example:

<catalogsearch_result_index>
    <reference name="root">
        <action method="setTemplate">
            <template>page/3columns.phtml</template>
            <!-- or 2columns-left or 2columns-right -->
        </action>
    </reference>
    <reference name="left">
        <!-- Remove some unnecessary blocks -->
        <remove name="block.name.here" />

        <block type="yourmodule/yourblock" name="somename" after="currency" template="yourmodule/yourblock/left.phtml"/>
    </reference> 
</catalogsearch_result_index>

For showing the block immediately without calling it from the template file just add output="toHtml" in <block> element.

You can also add static (CMS) block if you don't have some logic to implement:

<block type="cms/block" name="search_result_links">
    <action method="setBlockId"><block_id>search_result_links</block_id></action>
</block>