Advanced Configuration (Search Weights)

Overview

The Advanced Configuration page provides fine-grained control over how ExpertRec scores and ranks search results at the field level. While the standard Ranking page offers high-level weight sliders, this page exposes individual field weights and scoring parameters for precise tuning.

Navigate to: Search Settings > Advanced Configuration

Note: Advanced Configuration is available for Ecommerce (non-Shopify) integrations. Shopify users manage ranking from the Ranking page.

Field-Level Weights

Each indexed field (title, description, brand, SKU, category, tags, and any custom fields) has its own weight multiplier. A higher weight means matches in that field score more strongly relative to matches in lower-weight fields.

• Title: The most important field for most stores. Keep this at the highest weight.
• Description: Useful for long-tail queries. Lower weight than title is recommended to avoid noise from lengthy descriptions.
• Brand: Increase this if customers frequently search by brand name.
• SKU: Increase this if customers use product codes directly in search.
• Tags: Useful for thematic search terms not present in the title or description.

Scoring Parameters

• Boost in-stock products: Apply a score boost to products that are in stock so they rank ahead of out-of-stock items with otherwise equal relevance.
• Freshness boost: Give recently added or updated products a slight ranking advantage. Useful for fashion and trend-driven stores.
• Popularity boost: Factor in click-through and purchase data so products that perform well in search rank higher over time.

Adjusting Field Weights

1. Navigate to Search Settings > Advanced Configuration.
2. Review the list of indexed fields and their current weight values.
3. Increase or decrease weights using the numeric inputs or sliders.
4. Use the Test Search box to preview how results change with the new weights before saving.
5. Click Save to apply the changes. The updated weights take effect immediately.

Best Practices

• Make one change at a time and test the impact before making additional adjustments.
• If a field is rarely useful for search (such as an internal ID field), set its weight to 0 to exclude it from scoring.
• Use the Reporting > Search Insights > Unclicked Queries report to identify queries producing poor results, then adjust weights for the fields most relevant to those queries.
• Reset weights to defaults if results become unexpectedly poor after changes.