ePublishing Knowledge BaseContinuumAdvancedHow does my website determine search results? How does the site search functionality work?

How does my website determine search results? How does the site search functionality work?

ePublishing websites use SOLR as their search engine. SOLR is a popular enterprise search engine. For more technical folk, learn more about SOLR here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apache_Solr

SOLR weighs a term based on where that term appears in the website's content.

Content with the search term appearing only in a headline or taxonomy will have a higher relevancy score than content where the search term only appears in a keyword, summary text or in the text of the content. A higher relevancy score means that that piece of content will appear higher up in the search results.

The more often the search term appears in a given piece of content on your website, the higher the relevancy score.

The higher the number below, the more weight it is given in search results:

  • Headline - 10
  • Taxonomy - 8
  • Author - 4
  • Summary - 3
  • Keyword - 2
  • Text - 1

For content that doesn't have a strict "headline," per se, the headline distinction above applies to the Name (in the case of Directory Listings) or Title (Events). The same applies to other categories. Summary references the teaser on most types of content. The text in most cases references the Body, but also may apply to what is labeled Description in the case of Directory Listings, Events and Products. See the table below:

Currently, media files such as audio and video are not indexed, but it is in the works!

SOLR Weighting Terms

SOLR Weighting Term Article Blog Post Classified Directory Listing Event Media Files Pages Products
Headline Headline Headline Headline Name Title N/A Headline Headline
Taxonomy All All All All All N/A All All
Author Author Author N/A N/A Company N/A N/A Author
Summary Teaser Teaser N/A Short Description Teaser N/A N/A Teaser
Keyword Keywords Keywords Keywords N/A Keywords N/A N/A Keywords
Text Body Body Body Long Description Description N/A Body Description

Site Search Result Display Options

There is a system setting that controls whether, by default, your site's search results are sorted by relevancy vs. date

By default, websites are set to use relevancy over date. Talk to your Solutions Manager if you want to change this for your site.

If you have any questions about your website's search functionality, please contact your Solutions Manager.