Providing the right and accurate answers to a search is the goal of every website and search engine. You probably have been searching casually for a long time and asked yourself if going through the trouble of precision searching is worth it? Yes! It does, especially for important information.
So, if you own a website or are running a website, it is important to improve your website search for adequate search results and response. However, this is only possible if you equip yourself with adequate knowledge of machine learning and precision search to aid the performance of your website. So, tighten your seat belt as we drive you through the road of precision search and recall metrics.
What are Precision Search and Recall Metrics?
Every customer wants their problems solved and a quick response to their questions. Therefore, a customer should not surf your website to get information and find nothing. Instead, they should get results that may provide similar answers to your quest. This is the major function of precision search and recall metrics.
Precision search is how to search your website and assist your customer(s) get relevant search results against irrelevant ones. That is, the ratio of the most likely answer will be more than every other result. For instance, if a customer searches for the number of people that use the iPhone12 in the United States, there is the probability that the result will conclude by showing the percentage or ratio of the mode of iPhones usage in the US. If the result shows 10 outputs 5 iPhone12, 2 iPhone11, 2iphoneSmax and 1 iPhone 13. Hence the precision will be 5:10.
Recall Metics, on the hand, is an algorithm that shows the total number of correct and adequate searches returned by your website. It means your website detects positive results. In other words, the higher the precision, the higher the recall. For example, if there are 20 products relevant to the iPhone in the search query and the system returns sixteen, then the recall is 16 out of 20.
There is a high chance of having a precision and recall problem in the search result. Whenever your website develops this issue, you don’t have to panic. However, It may result in your customer combing through numerous irrelevant searches before getting their actual answer. And this might cost you sales.
To attain general metric precision and recall, you should consider running your website on 50-100 searches manually and measuring the value based on your outcome.
6 Ways to Improve Search Relevance Precision and Recall
1. Typo Tolerance
The first way to improve on a precision search for maximum output is to give hints and have a replacement for grammatical errors. Unfortunately, typography is very common, especially for customers who use mobile phones to surf the Internet.
Nevertheless, your search engine should have the ability to recognize any wrong word or spelling and correct it. Whenever this happens, your output should be “search for (the right word will be input) instead of (the wrong word).” For example, “search for soccer games instead of soccer games.” Your search result should redirect the customer into getting the information he quests for.
2. Opposite Approach
You might be wondering what the opposite approach is and how it helps to improve search relevance. This works by adding more keywords to your search field. It is the addition of a list with synonym words for common keywords. For example, a tie is added to any item with corporate wear. Another example is adding shoes to any word that contains sneakers. Doing this will aid and improve precision search.
3. Explanation of Search Result
To prevent your results from being considered poor, it must give comprehensive information about the search match. One of the best ways to explain a search match is to highlight the matching query in the result. For instance, if a search on Elon Musk is inputted on your website, the result should show him as the CEO of Tesla Motor and other necessary matching information. This is to make sure someone who does not know Elon Musk understands the result and who he is.
4. Structure your Data
This is another step to having good precision search and recall. Having a long chain that contains a lot of information won’t place your website on the path to good relevance. Instead, it would be best if you had various chains with specific information attached to them for the search engine to place the importance of matches in their respective order.
5. Elimination of Unwanted Description Field
Nonindexing fields that contain a lot of “noise” from by site search bar will go a long way in improving your website search relevance. Noise in this context means unwanted information that can hinder a good search and results on your website.
From the example above, iPhone 13 might appear in the search for an iPhone because the description could be “expensive iPhone in Nigeria.” However, removing the description field will prevent issues like unwanted information from popping up on your website.
Nevertheless, it is also important to know that the description field is also advantageous when adding relevant keywords for easy search, just as it is in the opposite approach.
6. Rank Personalization for Users
This is the final tip you can use to improve your search relevance, metrics, and precision. This is often overlooked. If a customer often carts for specific goods on your website. There should be a track or record of the kind of goods the customer buys and the content he searches for.
The Ultimate Recommendation: Using Expertrec Smart Search for Your Website Search Precision and Recall Automatically
Expertrec is an intelligent website search engine for eCommerce websites and normal blogs and websites. It is compatible with WordPress, Woocommerce, Shopify, Magento, and Custom Stack. Having Expertrec Intelligent search installed on your website will boost sales and conversion. It enables your website to optimize itself automatically over time and periodically. In addition, it automatically filters wrong spelling or any typographical errors when people use your site search bar and provide the right result. The Expertrec Smart search plugin is 5-time faster than the conventional search bar with your website, and you can effortlessly install it by clicking here.
Conclusion
This article has explained the nitty-gritty of precision search and recall metrics. Also, it has provided six tips on how to improve search relevance, precision, and recall. Therefore, these tips will be of great advantage while running your website.
