Tips and troubleshooting for automatic phrasing

Examining how a phrased query was processed

Single word phrases

You can include a single word in your phrases_import.xml file and treat the word as a phrase in your project. This may be useful if you do not want stemming or thesaurus expansion applied to single word query terms. You cannot include single word phrases by extracting them from dimension values using the Phrases dialog box. They have to be imported from your phrases_import.xml file.

Extending user phrases

The MDEX Engine does not extend phrases a user provides to match a phrase in the phrase dictionary. For example, if a user provides the query A "BC" D and "BCD" is in the phrase dictionary, the MDEX Engine does not extend the user's original phrasing of "BC" to "BCD."

Term order is significant in phrases

Phrases are matched only if search terms are provided in the same exact order and with the same exact terms as the phrase in the phrase dictionary. For example, if "weekend bag" is in the phrase dictionary, the MDEX Engine does not automatically phrase the search terms "weekend getaway bag" or "bag, weekend" to match "weekend bag."

Possible dead ends

If an application automatically phrases search terms, it is possible a query may not produce results when it seemingly should have. Specifically, one way in which a dead-end query can occur is when a search phrase is displayed as a DYM link with results and navigation state filtering excludes the results.

For example, suppose a car sales application is set up to process a user's original query and display any automatic phrase alternatives as DYM options. Further suppose a user navigates to Cars > Less than $15,000 and then provides the search terms luxury package. The search terms match the phrase 'luxury package' in the phrase dictionary.