Depending on the status of the selected channel, direct configuration might be locked or linked to other channels.
To find the search algorithm settings, choose More settings… in the menu, then Search algorithm:
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The Search Algorithm settings allow the fine-tuning of NG’s search algorithm.
The Minimum score (1) setting defines the minimum score (which measures the similarity to the search term) that any product must have in order for it to be included in the search results.
The similarity of the individual products of a search result can be easily calculated by the "Search term effect" value displayed in the Cockpit. The similarity value results from the following formula:
Similarity = 100% + "Search term effect" + other effects
In the cockpit a mouse-over over the value for the score makes a window appear which displays some values including the search term effect (see screenshot below)
Example:
The similarity for the first product in the example screenshot is 100% + (-5.14%) = 94.86%.
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If the minimum score was set to 94% or lower, this product with the example search term "bike lock" will appear in the search result.
If the minimum score was set to 95% or higher, this product with the example search term "bike lock" would not appear in the search result.
Please be aware that the minimum similarity is not compared with the overall score (which also includes the influence of ASO, of the Semantic anhancer and of the ranking rules) but with the similarity (which only depends on the search term effect, see the formula above)
The Result score spread (2) parameter can also be seen as a form of dynamic minimum score. Its value determines the minimum score below which results are not counted, compared with the best hits. For example, if the best hit has a score of 98.7% and the spread is set to 8%, all hits with a score of less than 90.7% will be discounted. The purpose of this setting is to “separate the wheat from the chaff”, ensuring the quality of results returned.
Performance vs. Quality (3) is a parameter which affects for the FactFinder search algorithm. In general, the search quality improves as this value increases. However, search speed decreases at the same time.
Usually this value should be left at 4.
The Search timeout (in seconds) parameter makes it possible to set the maximum allowed time for a search.