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Can good site search replace a category structure?

Only if it is reachable as a URL an agent can construct and returns readable results without running scripts. Many store searches meet neither condition: they post a form rather than accepting a query string, or they render results in the browser after the page has loaded. A search like that is excellent for the shoppers who use it and invisible to anything reading the page, so it does not replace a category structure or a feed.

Why it happens

Agents work under a fetch budget, so narrowing is how they get to the relevant part of a catalogue at all. A category is a cheap filter: one URL that returns the candidates. Without one, the only available filter is reading everything, and reading everything is exactly what the budget prevents.

The result is a quiet mismatch. Your store may stock the best answer to the shopper request and be represented in the comparison by an unrelated product, because that was the product in reach.

Run a free scan and find out which of these your store actually hits.