How does the search functionality work?
I'm not getting expected results from my search. Ex. I have an article called "Data Domains" and when I search "data domains" I do not get that article in the results.
Can you explain how the search functions so I can more advantageously set up Categories, Article names, Sections, content, tags, etc. ?
3 replies
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Hi , thanks for reaching out!
When performing a search, the system prioritizes exact matches in certain fields. Specifically:
- Article titles and Category/Section names that contain exact matches to the search phrase will appear at the top of the results.
- If there’s no exact match, the body text will influence the ranking, but it won’t override the boost given to exact matches in titles.
A couple of things to double-check in your case:
- Make sure the article “Data Domains” is published and not in draft, scheduled, or removed status. Articles in those states won’t show up in search results.
- If you suspect the article might have been removed, you can search for it specifically by going to Moderate > Admin > Removed tab, and using the search box there — that will pull from all removed posts.
To improve searchability overall, here are a few tips:
- Use clear, commonly searched phrases in article titles and category names.
- Add relevant keywords into the body text to help boost relevancy if exact matches aren’t found.
Let me know if you’d like help checking the status of a specific article.
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I double checked things and realized things should be working as you've described, but they were not. Upon further examination I realized I had two additional articles that were "Removed" with the same (or very similar) names.
Having these other articles, with similar/same name, in the "Removed" list appears to have thrown off the search feature.
BUG/ENHANCEMENT: When I updated the names of the "Removed" articles the search worked! Please make note of this and/or update the search capabilities to exclude "Removed" articles from the query.
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Thanks for the additional details ! This has been flagged for our team to review. I really appreciate you taking the time to dig in and report back — super helpful.