A client recently wanted to change the search results page layout, so that instead of having three columns, it was two columns, with one column left, which included their left navigation bar. The search results page is controlled by the catalogsearch.xml file. Download that file from the app>layout> base>default folder to your own theme’s layout folder.
If you look around line 52 you will find where the layout is set:Catalog search results (47)
We are going to change that to 2columns left:Catalog search results page (58)
and our search results will have two colums with a sidebar on the left side.
It’s that easy!
