Synonyms Tab

Site Search > Relevance > Basic Relevance > Synonyms Tab

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The Synonyms Tab of the SearchStax Site Search solution’s Basic Relevance screen lets the Business User augment queries using synonyms.

How it Works

How the synonym feature works:

• The business user enters a synonym pair, consisting of a trigger phrase and a synonym phrase.
• When a query contains the trigger phrase, Site Search automatically inserts the synonym into the query string.

Key Benefits

• Synonyms transparently guide the search user to relevant content by broadening the terms of the query.

Setting up Synonyms

Synonyms can be set up manually, and can also be uploaded from TXT files.

Manual Entry

To enter a synonym pair manually:

1. Enter a trigger word/phrase in the Word field.
   • When this phrase appears in a query, it triggers a synonym expansion.
   • Solr synonyms must be literal strings. They do not support any kind of regex or wildcard operations.
2. Select a right-arrow (→) or a double-arrow (↔) in the Is droplist.
   • a right-arrow (→) will replace the word on the left at query time and index time to the word on the right
   • a double-arrow (↔) will expand the words at index and query time
3. Enter the synonym phrase in the Synonym to field.
   • This phrase will be inserted in the query string to broaden the search results. If you would like to enter multiple terms, separate them by commas.
4. Click the plus button (+) to add the synonym pair to the list of synonyms.
5. (Not shown). Click the Publish button to make the change active and persistent.
   • Both the Draft and Publish buttons save your changes. Publish makes the changes visible in the Search Experience.

Upload a File

Site Search lets you upload a dictionary of synonym pairs.

1. Prepare the upload file as described in Synonyms: Upload Format.
   • When you upload a file, it appends words to the previous list. 
   • Duplicate entries are ignored.
   • Maximum file size is 10MB.
   • Site Search can accommodate up to 25000 synonym entries.
2. Use the Choose File button to select the file.
3. Click Upload.
   • The new synonyms will appear in the list.

Table Utilities

The table of synonym pairs offers some convenient features:

1. At the left are controls to select one or more synonym pairs for global operations (such as delete).
2. Click on a column heading to re-sort the table by the values in that column.
3. On the right are controls to:
   • Filter the list by searching for a keyword.
   • Download the synonyms to a CSV file.
   • Delete selected synonyms.

Examples

Some synonyms are one-way (think replacements), while others are symmetrical (think expansion). For example, when the user types in “William,” Site Search will replace the term to “Bill” at index and query time. (In case your data was indexed earlier with William, when you add this Synonym now and Search, search query will be replaced as Bill and only match documents with the word Bill. However, as the data is reindexed, at indexing time too William will get replaced with Bill and you get documents matching both)

When the user types in either “lose” or “loose”, search for both. 

Best Practices and Tips

• Examine the list of No Results Searches for inspiration about synonyms. While some words will be good candidates for Synonyms, misspellings are better suited for adding to the Spellchecker dictionary.

Troubleshooting and Common Issues

• When you upload a synonym file but no new synonyms appear in the list, check the file format. The upload can fail silently.
• When you enter or upload synonyms and can’t find them later, be sure to Publish your changes.
• Be sure to regenerate your Search UI App after making any changes to the Search Experience.