A day in the life of an Optimizely OMVP - Enhancing Search Relevance with Optimizely Graph: Synonyms and Pinned Results

When building search experiences for modern digital platforms, relevance is everything. Users expect search to understand their intent, even when they use different terminology than what's in your content. They also expect the most important results to appear prominently. Optimizely Graph addresses these challenges with two powerful features: synonyms and pinned results.

Understanding Synonyms in Optimizely Graph

Synonyms in Optimizely Graph allow you to define equivalent terms that should return similar search results. This feature bridges the gap between how your content authors describe things and how your users search for them.

Consider an e-commerce site selling athletic footwear. Your product catalog might consistently use the term "running shoes," but customers might search for "sneakers," "trainers," or "athletic shoes." Without synonym mapping, these searches could return incomplete or irrelevant results. Optimizely Graph's synonym functionality ensures that all these terms connect users to the products they're seeking.

The implementation of synonyms in Optimizely Graph supports both uni-directional and bi-directional relationships. Uni-directional synonyms work in one direction only—searching for "TV" might return results for "television," but searching for "television" won't necessarily include results specifically tagged as "TV." Bi-directional synonyms create a two-way relationship where both terms are treated as fully interchangeable.

Implementing Synonyms

Setting up synonyms in Optimizely Graph involves defining synonym sets through the Graph's configuration. You can create these mappings at different levels of granularity, from simple one-to-one relationships to complex multi-term equivalencies.

The synonym configuration supports several patterns. Single-term synonyms map individual words to their alternatives. Multi-word synonyms handle phrases like mapping "customer service" to "support" or "help desk." You can also implement expansion synonyms where a single term expands to multiple possibilities, useful for abbreviations or acronyms that might have multiple meanings in different contexts.

One particularly valuable aspect of Optimizely Graph's synonym implementation is its ability to handle context-aware synonyms. This means you can define different synonym sets for different parts of your content or different search contexts, preventing irrelevant matches when terms have multiple meanings across your domain.

The Power of Pinned Results

While synonyms help users find what they're searching for regardless of terminology, pinned results ensure that certain content appears prominently for specific queries. This feature gives content managers and marketers direct control over search results for critical business terms or campaigns.

Pinned results serve multiple strategic purposes. They can highlight promotional content during specific campaigns, ensure compliance by surfacing important legal or safety information for relevant searches, or guide users toward preferred content when multiple valid results exist. For instance, when users search for "return policy," you might want to pin both your standard return policy page and any temporary holiday return policy at the top of results.

Configuring Pinned Results

Optimizely Graph allows you to pin results at specific positions in search results. You can pin single items or multiple items for any given query, with fine-grained control over their ordering. The configuration supports both exact match and partial match triggers, giving you flexibility in how broadly your pinned results apply.

The pinning mechanism in Optimizely Graph is sophisticated enough to handle overlapping rules gracefully. When multiple pinning rules might apply to a single query, the system follows a precedence order that you can configure, ensuring predictable and manageable behavior even in complex scenarios.

Pinned results can also be time-bound, allowing you to schedule when certain content should be promoted. This temporal control is invaluable for seasonal campaigns, limited-time offers, or content that should only be prominent during specific events or periods.

Best Practices for Synonyms and Pinned Results

Successfully implementing these features requires thoughtful planning and ongoing refinement. For synonyms, start by analyzing your search logs to identify common query patterns and terminology mismatches. Look for searches that return few or no results despite relevant content existing in your system. These gaps often reveal synonym opportunities.

Regular review and updates are essential for maintaining synonym quality. Language evolves, new products or services introduce new terminology, and your user base's vocabulary might shift over time. Establish a review cycle to evaluate and update your synonym mappings based on actual search behavior and user feedback.

When implementing pinned results, resist the temptation to over-pin. Excessive pinning can make search results feel artificial and might actually decrease user satisfaction if pinned content consistently doesn't match user intent. Use pinning strategically for high-value scenarios rather than trying to control every possible search.

Consider implementing measurement and testing frameworks for both features. A/B testing different synonym configurations or pinned result strategies can provide valuable insights into what genuinely improves user experience versus what might seem helpful but actually creates friction.

Integration Considerations

Both synonyms and pinned results in Optimizely Graph integrate seamlessly with the platform's other search capabilities. They work alongside faceting, filtering, and relevance tuning to create comprehensive search experiences. The Graph API provides programmatic access to manage these configurations, enabling dynamic updates based on business logic or external data sources.

Performance implications are minimal, as Optimizely Graph processes synonyms and pinned results at query time with optimized algorithms that maintain fast response times even with extensive synonym dictionaries or pinning rules.

Conclusion

Synonyms and pinned results in Optimizely Graph represent powerful tools for creating more intuitive and business-aligned search experiences. Synonyms ensure users find what they're looking for regardless of the terminology they use, while pinned results give you direct control over search results for critical queries. Together, they enable you to build search functionality that serves both user needs and business objectives effectively.

The key to success with these features lies in thoughtful implementation, regular maintenance, and continuous optimization based on user behavior and business requirements. When properly configured and managed, they transform search from a simple matching exercise into a sophisticated discovery tool that connects users with the content they need, when they need it.