About semantic search and how it works

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<p class="p">Semantic search generates the most accurate search results possible based on the intent and
context of user search queries. Unlike search methods that find literal matches to keywords,
semantic search captures the meaning of search queries, helping end users and agents search
for and locate content without prior knowledge of the exact keywords to use.</p>
<p class="p">To understand how to tell if you have semantic search enabled and what the rollout plan looks
like, see <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/6675063083418" target="_blank">Understanding the semantic search rollout plan</a>.</p>
<div class="p">This article contains the following sections:<ul class="ul" id="topic-1__ul_yn1_3n3_z3b">
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_ofs_j1z_gxb">What is semantic search?</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_d3r_l1z_gxb">How semantic search works</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_wjp_g2z_gxb">How semantic search improves the search experience</a></li>
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<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title2" class="topic nested1" id="topic_ofs_j1z_gxb">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title2">What is semantic search?</h2>
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<p class="p" dir="ltr">Semantic search uses artificial intelligence (AI) to process and understand the
full meaning and intent of language used in search queries, similar to the way a
human would. Specifically, machine learning (ML) and natural language processing (NLP)
technologies work together in semantic search to help the search engine understand the
user’s intent when they submit a search query. Understanding what the user is actually
looking for, regardless of the keywords they use, helps the search engine return and rank
the most relevant results.</p>
<p class="p" dir="ltr">For example, with semantic search, end users and agents can ask natural language
questions instead of worrying about which keywords to use in order to get the best results.
New agents can ask “how do I start using reports?” instead of trying to think of the best
keywords to use or the sequence of keywords to use in their query. With semantic search,
they can enter their question in the way that makes sense to them, and still see the most
relevant articles at the top of the results.</p>
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<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title3" class="topic nested1" id="topic_d3r_l1z_gxb">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title3">How semantic search works</h2>
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<p class="p" dir="ltr">Help center search has <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408894061338" target="_blank">historically relied on keyword matches</a> between queries and content
(for example, articles, community posts, or external records). However, it didn’t capture
the “meaning,” or semantics, of a query. Semantic search, on the other hand, deploys natural
language processing to understand the content of the search query and content. This helps
the search engine identify complex patterns that are otherwise missed. In many cases,
semantic search is able to find relevant results even when there is not a strong word
overlap between the query and indexed content.</p>
<p class="p" dir="ltr">Relying on language models, semantic search can translate queries and help center
articles into vectors (a numerical representation), and measure the distance between them.
Articles closer in the vector space are considered to be more similar by the language model.
The language model is trained on many text examples, and through these examples has learned
how to accurately interpret the meaning of text accurately. </p>
<p class="p" dir="ltr">When semantic search is used, the search engine boosts the relevance of
semantically better matches. This pushes the most relevant content, based on intent and
context of the search query, to the top of the search results. Each time a search is
performed, the search results are ranked not only based on keyword matches but also boosted
by semantic matches.</p>
<img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_d3r_l1z_gxb__image_v4j_lfz_gxb" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/guide-semantic-search-before-after.jpg" width="850">
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<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title4" class="topic nested1" id="topic_wjp_g2z_gxb">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title4">How semantic search improves the search experience</h2>
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<p class="p" dir="ltr">Semantic search offers a more intuitive search experience that lets help center
visitors search using their choice of terms. Since the incorporation of semantic search, an
increase in search quality metrics such as mean reciprocal rank (MRR) and click through rate
(CTR) has been observed. Specifically, MRR improves 7% on average with this first iteration
of semantic search for English Zendesk help centers. More searches with clicks have also
been observed. </p>
<p class="p" dir="ltr">By improving the search relevance, and ranking the most relevant results on top,
semantic search produces the following help center improvements:</p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_wjp_g2z_gxb__ul_jtd_pfz_gxb">
<li class="li">End users can find the information they are looking for more easily, increasing the
deflection power of your help center.</li>
<li class="li">Agents can be more efficient as they can find answers more quickly.</li>
</ul>
<p class="p">The degree of impact for semantic search depends on the search behavior of the user.
Semantic search has particularly positive benefits for longer search queries, but still
improves relevance for all types of search. </p>
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