Fredhopper provides sophisticated match and rank algorithms which ensures relevant search results. On top of this, Fredhopper offers mechanism to fine-tune its generic results to receive the optimal business results, e.g.:
- Enable business tactics: If a store only offers city bikes, the user could see alternative but similar products like mountain bikes alongside city bikes when searching for "city bikes".
- Fix data inconsistencies: If some products titles contains TV whereas other contain television due to different editor styles, the search should consider these products to be interchangeable.
- Speak the language of your users: If editors use technical or marketing speak, Fredhopper should deliver these products if users search in common language.
This page describes how to configure synonyms in FAS6.1+.
Types of synonyms
Synonyms are different words with identical or at least similar meanings . In the context of FAS, the following types of synonyms exist:
- Equals: Interchangeable words with identical meaning, e.g. abbreviation like tv and television.
- Similar: Interchangeable words with similar but not identical meaning, e.g. city bike and mountain bike.
- Contains: One-way relation between a word and its super concept, e.g. jeans and trousers. One-way synonyms are also the basis for taxonomies like trousers > jeans > 501.
As the example of city bike and mountain bike highlights: synonyms tend to be store-specific. For a general retail store city bike and mountain bike may indeed be similar - for a special bike dealer this will not hold.
FAS Synonym Syntax
Fredhopper provides for each type of synonyms a specific operator:
| Operator | FAS Synonym Syntax | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Equals | = | FAS does not differentiate between the search terms, e.g. in a search for tv the results for tv and television matches are mixed. |
| Similar | ~ | FAS ranks the search term higher, e.g. in a search for city bike first all city bike matches are ranked, and then all mountain bike matches. |
| Contains (one-way synonym) | > | FAS considers only the super concept, e.g. a search for jeans returns jeans and trousers matches whereas a search for trousers returns only trousers but no jeans matches. |
Multiple words can be connected with the same operator within one synonym, e.g. tv is identical to television and tele. It is not possible to mix different operators within one synonym, e.g. auto = automobile > car parts is not valid.
Synonyms of one definition can be seperated by commas: pants > jeans, shorts, bermudas, 501. The words seperated by comma are not related to each other.
Each synonym stands for itself and is not transitive, e.g. if auto is similar to automatic and auto is similar to car, it does not mean that automatic is similar to car.
Examples
The following tables how to translate common business cases into FAS Synonym Syntax:
| Business case | FAS Synonym Syntax |
|---|---|
| tv is identical to television | tv = television |
| tv is identical to television and tele | tv = television = tele |
| city bike is similar to mountain bike | city bike ~ mountain bike |
| every jeans is a trousers (but not all trousers are jeans). | trousers > jeans |
| every 501 and 511 is a jeans is a trousers (taxonomy) | trousers > jeans > 501, 511 |
| auto is identical to automobile; both are super concepts of car parts | auto = automobile auto, automobile > car parts |
Best practices
 |
As a general rule: Use the equals operator combined with good commercial ranking instead of the similar operator. Only use the similar operator if you have insufficient commercial data but very good product data - or to handle exceptions. |
Linguistically, the most synonyms are similar by nature. But using the similar operator leads to more brackets in the search scoring (flat scoring). Therefore, the key question is: Is the linguistic separation of synonyms more relevant than the separation by commercial ranking attributes?
The two dimensions to be considered:
- Quality of product data: Many synonyms exist to equalize inconsistent product naming, e.g. the product data delivered by the American manufacturer may use the term gas whereas the data maintained by the British in-house team will contain petrol. In these cases, the equals operator should always be used.
- Quality of commercial data: In some situation no or only insufficient commercial data is available (e.g. only 10% of the catalog have unit sales information). In these cases, it is better to fall back to a stronger linguistic approach by using the similar operator assuming the product data is of high quality.
Additional examples
See the table below for a more complete overview of examples.
| Business case | FAS Synonym Syntax | Result in search |
|---|---|---|
| tv is identical to television | tv = television | Searching for tv gives exactly the same results as searching for television. |
| tv is identical to television and tele | tv = television = tele | Searching for tv, television and tele give the same result. |
| city bike is similar to mountain bike | city bike ~ mountain bike | Searching for city bike will return city bikes followed by mountain bikes. Searching for mountain bike will return mountain bikes, followed by city bikes |
| city bike is similar to mountain bike and road bike | city bike ~ mountain bike, road bike | Searching for city bike will return city bikes followed by mountain bikes and road bikes Searching for road bike will return road bikes followed by city bikes Searching for mountain bike will return mountain bikes followed by city bikes |
| city bike is similar to mountain bike is similar to road bike | city bike ~ mountain bike ~ road bike | Searching for city bike will return city bikes followed by mountain bikes followed by road bikes Searching for_ mountain {}bike will return mountain_ bikes _followed by _road bikes and city bikes Searching for road bikes will return road bikes, followed by mountain bikes, followed by city bikes |
| all jeans are trousers (but not all trousers are jeans). | trousers > jeans | Searching for trousers will return trousers followed by jeans. Searching for jeans will only return jeans (not trousers). |
| every 501 and 511 is a jeans is a trousers (taxonomy) | trousers > jeans > 501, 511 | Searching for trousers will return trousers, followed by jeans followed by 501 and 511. Searching for jeans will return jeans followed by 501 and 511. Searching for 501 will return only 501. Searching for 511 will return only 511. |
| trousers > jeans > 501 > 511 | Searching for trousers will return trousers followed by jeans followed by 501 followed by 511. Searching for jeans will returnjeans followed by 501 followed by 511. Searching for 501 will return 501 followed by 511 (difference with the above). Searching for 511 will return only 511. |
|
| clothing, apparel > trousers > jeans | Searching for clothing will return clothing followed by trousers followed by jeans. Searching for apparel will return apparel followed by trousers followed by jeans. Note: Searching for clothing will not return apparal and searching for apparel will not return clothing. |
|
| auto is identical to automobile; both are super concepts of car parts | auto = automobile auto > car parts automobile > car parts OR auto = automobile auto,automobile > car parts |
Searching for auto will return auto and automobile, followed by car parts Searching for automobile will return automobile and auto followed by car parts |
| auto = automobile auto > car parts automobile > steering wheel |
Searching for auto will return auto and automobile, followed by car parts Searching for automobile will return automobile and auto followed by steering wheel Note that search for auto will not return steering wheel and searching for automobile will not return car parts |
|
| auto > car parts redirect configured on car parts |
Searching for auto will trigger the redirect for car parts Searching for car parts will trigger the redirect for car parts |
|
| auto,automobile > car parts | Same as above | |
| automobile, truck > car parts > wheel, seat cover | Searching for automobile will show automobile, followed by car parts, followed by wheel and steel cover Searching for automobile will show automobile, followed by_ car parts,_ followed by_ wheel_ and steel cover |
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