Exact signals first
An exact product name, SKU, model code or brand often deserves strong priority. Concrete intention requires predictability.
Exact matches →Academy · Lesson 2
Relevance determines what feels good for the customer.
Ranking is the trade-off between what the customer means, which products fit in terms of content and which commercial signals can be considered responsibly.
Characteristics and context
Wider queries can provide additional context to category, material, color, application and semantic agreement.
Semantic relevance →Commercial signals
Stock, campaigns and other business signals can be taken into account, but should not put irrelevant results above good matches.
Merchandising →Evaluate on real queries
Use popular terms, long-tail questions, zero-result searches, and known problem queries to review ranking changes.
Query test set →Working order
Relevance first, then commercial refinement.
A usable ranking starts with a substantive connection to the search question. Only then do you add controlled business signals and measure whether the result is actually getting better.
SignalRoleRisk
ExactPrecisionExpand too widely
SemanticRecall and contextToo loose agreements
BusinessCommercial controlDisplacement of relevance