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Common Phrases
A common phrase is a search term with 2-5 words that are next to each other and in a specific order. Use common phrases to decrease noise in your search results and give customers more targeted results for multi-word search queries. This topic applies to B2C Commerce.
For example, customers who search for tables shouldn't get table lamps, because table is a descriptor and lamp is the desired result. On the other hand, if a customer is searching for lamps, they would see all types of lamps, including table lamps.
Common phrases can be staged with other search features. Common phrases
can be imported using the search2.xsd schema. Common
phrases can be exported and imported via Site Import
and Export.
Search Modes: Exact Match and Last Word
You can configure the common phrases feature to use different matching options:
- Exact Match: If you search on the exact phrase, only products that include the exact phrase appear. The exact phrase is all the words in the phrase in the same order and next to one another. Search queries that include terms from the common phrase don't return any of the products that contain the common phrase. For example, if table lamps is a common phrase with exact match, then searching on table lamp returns only table lamps. Searching on table, lamp, or lamp table doesn't return table lamps. This is because during indexing, table lamp is indexed as a single phrase and not indexed for the individual terms.
- Long-tail Search Phrases with Duplicate Search Terms: If you search on the exact phrase with duplicate terms, the suggestion processor accepts the duplicate terms and returns highly relevant search results. Accepting duplicate search terms rather than autocorrecting duplicate terms to slightly different versions, improves search results. Autocorrecting terms in the search phrase can result in irrelevant search results.
- Last Word Match: if you search on the last word in the phrase or the exact phrase, products including the exact phrase appear. For example, if table lamps is a common phrase with last word match, then searching on table lamp returns only table lamps. However, unlike exact match, searching on lamps returns all types of lamps, including table lamps. This is because during indexing, table lamp is indexed as a single phrase and as the last word in the phrase, but not any additional terms in the phrase.
Exact Match Example
For exact match, the customer must search for the common phrase exactly as it is configured, so that the words in the phrase are adjacent and in the same order. Normally, exact match is used for phrases with individual terms that produce items unrelated to the phrase. Customers are not searching for individual terms with the phrase, they are only searching for product described by the full phrase. In the following examples, exact match is a good choice for the bed in a bag phrase, because a customer is likely searching for the exact phrase.
| Match | Configured Common Phrase | Entered Search Phrase | Returns Products | Does Not Return Products |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Exact | bed in a bag | bed in a bag |
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Last Word Match Example
For last word match, the customer must search for the whole common phrase or the last word in the phrase for products including the common phrase to be returned. Normally, last word matching is used when the last word in the phrase is the most significant and you want to include the results for the exact phrase whenever a customer searches for the last term. In the following examples, last word match is a good choice for the dress shirt phrase, because a customer searching for dresses doesn't want to see dress shirts. If the customer is searching for shirts, you want to return shirts, including dress shirts.
| Match | Configured Common Phrase | Entered Search Phrase | Returns Products | Does Not Return Products |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Last word | dress shirt | dress (dress AND NOT dress shirt) |
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| Last word | dress shirt | dress shirt (dress shirt) |
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| Last word | dress shirt | shirts (shirts AND dress shirt) |
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