Smart Search from alteredCart :: Spell Checking, Did You Mean? and More.

inboxnews · #71 11-20-2007, 12:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crazyoval

I have had correspondance from Bill who said that the extra fields would be an add on to the Search Mod, so, an additional cost and install I would assume from this.

Yes, but he also said in this thread that he would be uploading said mod this weekend a month ago. So what's the status?

Also, is that extra mod necessary for Smart Search to work with CDSEO and MetaTags Plus?

crazyoval · #72 11-20-2007, 03:11 PM

HI inboxnews,

as you have also seen, Bill has just posted his demo up for the one page checkout which Im guessing was his priority, so maybe the Search is next on the agenda for demo'ing.

I wanted to add extra fields to each product spec and be able to search on these. so that was the context of my brief discussion via mail with Bill, not about CDSEO fields. Having said that, CDSEO fields are about defining the html wording for the page name yes? so, its not part of the page's content as such is it... but surely as part of an SEO plan, the page name you define in CDSEO is mirroring your keywords in your meta data which are in the product content and so surely are part of the search content too....

I have no experience with metadata plus.

Maybe Bill will let us know soon what's the lowdown rather than me speculating.

inboxnews · #73 11-20-2007, 03:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crazyoval

...CDSEO fields are about defining the html wording for the page name yes? so, its not part of the page's content as such is it... but surely as part of an SEO plan, the page name you define in CDSEO is mirroring your keywords in your meta data which are in the product content and so surely are part of the search content too... I have no experience with metadata plus.

Yes and No. MetaTags Plus and CDSEO use extra fields for Title/Description and Keywords. CDSEO also performs the function you mentioned.

crazyoval · #74 11-21-2007, 12:00 AM

ok we will have to wait and see I guess

starwest · #75 12-12-2007, 03:49 PM

Question for those of you using this mod:

Did it require much configuration to get accurate search results?

I'm having some trouble with the results returned for my search phrases. In some cases they are far less helpful, or non-existent, where the default search function found the proper products. For example, we sell products that contain Pau D'Arco Bark. On the default search, searching for "pau d arco" will return all 8 products and nothing else. With Smart Search, searching for "pau d arco" will return 50 products or more, and sorted by relevancy products with "Pau D'Arco" in their names aren't even on the first few pages.

In another instance, searching for "Chai Tea" with the default search will return 12 products which contain the phrase chai tea. Using Smart Search, of the first 10 products only 6 of them contain both words while other items like teaspoons and mate chai outrank many of the items by relevancy that contained the actual phrase "chai tea".

Judging by all of the great reviews, and how helpful Bill has been answering questions here, including my own pre-sales questions, I'm hoping that it's just a matter of tweaking things a bit. If anyone could offer any insight based on their own experience or my examples I would greatly appreciate it.

wjbrewer · #76 12-13-2007, 08:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by starwest

Question for those of you using this mod:

Did it require much configuration to get accurate search results?

I'm having some trouble with the results returned for my search phrases. In some cases they are far less helpful, or non-existent, where the default search function found the proper products. For example, we sell products that contain Pau D'Arco Bark. On the default search, searching for "pau d arco" will return all 8 products and nothing else. With Smart Search, searching for "pau d arco" will return 50 products or more, and sorted by relevancy products with "Pau D'Arco" in their names aren't even on the first few pages.

In another instance, searching for "Chai Tea" with the default search will return 12 products which contain the phrase chai tea. Using Smart Search, of the first 10 products only 6 of them contain both words while other items like teaspoons and mate chai outrank many of the items by relevancy that contained the actual phrase "chai tea".

Hello.

This sounds like a problem with the 4 letter MySQL word limit, which would cause the incorrect results for 'tea', and 'Pau'. You can edit this by changing (or adding) this to the etc/my.cnf file:

Code:

ft_min_word_len=2

or

Code:

ft_min_word_len=3

You may have to have your web host, or web manager do this for you. After this restart MySQL and rebuild the search database and your results will be accurate down to 2 or 3 letter words.

http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/server-system-variables.html#option_mysqld_ft_min_word_len

--

Also, the Smart Search uses a natural language search. What this does is assign every word a value, and score this in relation to other words. Basically, rare words are scored higher than common words and product results are based on:

1. Word frequency.
2. Word placement (a word in the title is worth more than a word in the description).

So if you search for 'Chai Tea', the first results with be:

1. Products with both words in the title
2. Products with a single word in the title and both words in the description.
3. Products with both words in the description.
4. Products with a single word in the description.

And all based on word value and density. So if the word tea is used 10 times in a description this will rank above one that uses the work 8 times.

I hope all of this makes sense.

wjbrewer · #77 12-13-2007, 08:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by inboxnews

Yes, but he also said in this thread that he would be uploading said mod this weekend a month ago. So what's the status?

Also, is that extra mod necessary for Smart Search to work with CDSEO and MetaTags Plus?

Sorry, I didn't realize I posted this. The add-on really has been technically complete for a while, but there has been a change in plans on the release due to the 4.1.9 release making a few big changes on the db structure.

To view an example, websitecm.com recently installed the Static page search on their website (page results are at the bottom).

http://www.websitecm.com/_search.php?page=1&q=improve+search

starwest · #78 12-17-2007, 02:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wjbrewer

Hello.

This sounds like a problem with the 4 letter MySQL word limit, which would cause the incorrect results for 'tea', and 'Pau'. You can edit this by changing (or adding) this to the etc/my.cnf file:

Code:

ft_min_word_len=2

or

Code:

ft_min_word_len=3

You may have to have your web host, or web manager do this for you. After this restart MySQL and rebuild the search database and your results will be accurate down to 2 or 3 letter words.

http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/server-system-variables.html#option_mysqld_ft_min_word_len

--

Thanks Bill - I appreciate the assistance... I just wish I could test it out.

Just an FYI for others on shared hosting:

Unfortunately, on shared ecommerce hosting through one of the better hosts around, I've been told that the above change will potentially impact the performance of the server too much, as well as require the other uses to re-index their databases, so it isn't a change that can be made. For anyone else on shared hosting that's thinking about purchasing this mod, you may want to consider how important short 2-3 letter words are within your products and ask your host in advance if they're willing to make this change to the server configuration.

inboxnews · #79 12-19-2007, 02:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wjbrewer

Sorry, I didn't realize I posted this. The add-on really has been technically complete for a while, but there has been a change in plans on the release due to the 4.1.9 release making a few big changes on the db structure.

To view an example, websitecm.com recently installed the Static page search on their website (page results are at the bottom).

http://www.websitecm.com/_search.php?page=1&q=improve+search

Thanks for the update Bill.

Metal-X-Man · #80 12-30-2007, 05:52 PM

All,

The #1 biggest weakness (in my opinion) with X-Cart has been the search function. It is barely effective and a resource hog. I just added Smartsearch to my site today and it's a big difference! I guarantee that I get more good search results for customers and probably increased sales. I have 80,000 products and it seems to run fine. More testing to come, but all the cosmetic stuff is done and integrated into the site.

Recommend this product! #1 mod of the year in my book!

Metal-X