Cross-field is the priority that is assigned to a matching record if the match is split across multiple fields. A cross-field match can be configured to appear higher in the results than some single-field matches.
Cross-field matching example
Consider two exact matches. One is product name + product color; the other match is product description. The record that displays first depends on whether or not you use and how you use cross-field matching,
A shopper enters “blue suede shoes” in the search box. Two records are matches, but which one should have the higher priority? Here are the two records:
Record | product.name | product.color | product.description |
|---|---|---|---|
One | Suede shoes | Blue | Customer favorite |
Two | Suede shoes | Red | Tired of your blue suede shoes? Try these! |
Record one is a match where “blue suede shoes” is split across multiple fields. Record two is a match where “blue suede shoes” occurs in a single product.description field. Record one is the better match and should have the higher priority, but it will only display first if the following conditions are met:
Your searchable field ranking list uses cross-field matching.
Cross-field matches have a higher priority than a single
product.descriptionfield match.
There are no rules for which fields in a searchable field ranking list should be given a higher priority than cross-field matches, but you likely want to consider structured fields like category, brand, color, or features. Fields that allow more unstructured or free-form content like a product description should be given a lower priority and should display after cross-field matches.
Cross-field matching is enabled by default for each searchable field ranking list. To disable cross-field matching, you must use the search REST APIs.
