Expand search results to include additional
search terms.
By default, Zing includes a sample synonym dictionary consisting of a list of synonym sets
(synsets). Zing supports two types of synonym sets.
Table 1. Synonym set types
| Synonym set type |
Description |
Example |
| Synonym list |
A synonym list is a list of words separated by commas. When a search uses any word
from the list, Zing expands the search to include all words in the list. |
Cyber,Internet,Cybercafe |
| Synonym map |
A synonym map is two word lists separated by the equal and greater than characters =>
. When a search uses any word from the list on the left, Zing expands the search to include
all words from the list on the right. When a search uses a word from the list on the right,
Zing does not expand the search to include terms from the list on the left. |
IOT,Internet of Things=>Chip,Nest thermostat,RFID,IOT |
Search administrators can create synonym sets for search terms that produce no or low-scoring
search results. See the Top Searches homepage for information about
your user's search behavior.
Search results, synonym expansion and weighting
In search results, documents containing the original search keywords having a higher score
than documents containing the search synonyms. For example, documents with the keyword
IOT have a higher score than documents with the synonym
Internet of Things.
- One-way synonym expansion to/from multiple terms (blork, cork => malork,
elastic) works as expected. Blork and
cork both expand to malork and
elastic.
- Multi-level one-way expansion (blork => cork => malork) does not
work transitively. Neither blork nor cork
expands to malork.
- Multi-level one-way expansion split between multiple synonym set records (blork
=> cork)(cork => malork) does not work transitively. Only
cork expands to malork,
blork only expands to cork but not
malork.
By default, synonyms do not use the same weight as regular search terms. Synonyms are only
weighted at 10% of the default search weight. Additionally, multiple instances of a synonym in a
single doc/field do not increase the search weight. The weight of synonyms is controlled by the
property glide.ts.synonym.expanded.boost. When this property value = 1,
synonyms are weighted equally to normal search terms. 0.5 = 50% weight etc.
