How to semantically enrich search results using the thesaurus in Control Desk, and how AI can help you do this

As an e-commerce professional, you strive to make it as easy as possible for your customers to find products in your online store. Your keywords are undoubtedly of particular importance in this regard. After all, search results that don’t match what customers are looking for—or a page with no results—are often caused by slight variations in search terms. With the help of the thesaurus in Control Desk, you can prevent this problem by semantically optimizing your keywords according to your specific needs. In this article, you’ll learn how this works and how AI can provide targeted support in this process.

Expand

Expand allows you to expand search terms with an alternative term.

Example: Customers searching for"dress"should also see search results for"evening dress."If someone searches for"evening dress," only results for that search term should appear.

• First, type in thesearch term"dress."
• Under "Expand with," select the option "evening gown." If necessary, you can also add additional synonyms for the search term here using the plus icon.
• Select one of the options Exact or Contains. The Exact option, which is selected by default, means that the entry only applies if the search term is searched for on its own and consists exclusively of exactly these letters. If the option "contains" is selected, search terms that contain the specified search term are included. This option should only be used for search terms that are certain to have no other meaning, such as the term "Advent calendar."
• Set the country code. Additionally, select a country code if the entry is to be used for a specific language.
• Specifytheapplicationand decide whether the entry should be used for the standard search and/or for typeahead.

Example of expansion: While entering the search term "dress" also displays results for "evening dress," users searching for "evening dress" will only see results for "evening dress."

equate

By equating , you assign synonymous terms to a search term.

Example: Customers searching for "socks" or "stockings" should receive the same search results in both cases.

• To do this, enter all keywords that should be synonyms for each other under " Equate search terms."
• In this case, those would be the terms "socks" and "stockings."
• Choose one of the options: exact or includes.
• Set the country code.
• Select whethertheentry should beusedfor standard search and/or for typeahead. Including synonyms in the typeahead will result in suggestions being generated for the additional term as well.

Example of equating: From now on, identical search results will appear for both the keyword "socks" and the synonym "stockings."

Exclude

The Exclude rule allows you to exclude inappropriate search terms.

Example: Customers searching for "embroidery" should not receive search results for "knitting."

• First, enter"embroidery" asthe search term.
• Under Exclude word , you can exclude "knitting. " Here, too, a plus icon allows you to select multiple rule terms at the same time.
• Choose one of the options: exact or includes.
• Set the country code.

Example of exclusion: Search results for the keyword "knitting" should be excluded.

Replace

The Replace rule is used to replace search terms.

Example: Customers searching for "mini skirt" should only receive results for "skirt. "

• In the first step, enter"mini skirt"as the search term.
• Under Replace with, enter the replacement term "skirt. "
• Choose one of the options: exact or includes.
• Set the country code.
• Select whether the entry shouldbe usedfor the standard search and/or for typeahead.

Example of replacement: The search term "mini skirt" is replaced by "skirt," and the results are adjusted accordingly.

All saved keywords can be found in the thesaurus, collected in a table. Here you can see not only the search term, rule term, rule, and last modification date, but you also have the option to activate or deactivate entries, edit them, or delete them.

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