Working with synonyms

Synonyms provide the necessary flexibility to provide variants for search terms on your website. As an example, our website offers several types of couches, however, they are not all called couches. Some are called loveseats, some are sofas and others are referred to as davenports. The goal is to make sure when a user searches for any of those variants of couch, they all are returned in the search results. The synonym page consists of three fields: Keyword, Synonym, and Bidirectional. Keyword is the actual term that is searched, the Synonym is the variant and Bidirectional allows for more flexibility, in that a query string containing the Keyword returns the Keyword and the Synonym and a query of the Synonym will return the Synonym and the Keyword.

When creating synonyms, it is required that each Keyword Synonym relationship be its own record. This can be completed manually, but adding the various relationships into the list or, if the number or relationships is lengthy, it maybe be easier to create the relationships in Excel and then import them into the list.

Creating synonyms

We will use the scenario stated in the overview to help provide context for the instructions below: the Hero Tools website offers several types of nailers; however, they are not all called nailers. Some are called nailguns, and others are referred to as pinners. The goal is to make sure when a user searches for any of those variants of nailer, they all are returned in the search results.

1. Go to Admin Console > Marketing > Search > Synonyms.
2. Click Add Synonym.
3. Enter the Keyword
4. Enter the Synonym
5. Decide if Bidirectional is necessary, if so, click the toggle button to show Yes .

Using the steps above and referring to the provided scenario, the following table illustrates what would need to be included in the Synonyms list to satisfy the scenario:

Synonym	Keyword	Bidirectional
Nailer	Nailgun	Yes
Nailer	Pinner	Yes
Nailgun	Pinner	Yes

Synonyms provide the necessary flexibility to provide variants for search terms on your website. As an example, our website offers several types of bubblers, however, they are not all called bubblers. Some are called water fountains, some are drinking fountains and others are referred to as fountains. The goal is to make sure when a user searches for any of those variants of bubbler, they all are returned in the search results.

The synonym page consists of two fields: Bidirectional and Synonym. In the example above when searching for water fountain, drinking fountain or fountain, the search terms are modified to be "bubbler". This happens for any terms in the index that uses the synonym filter. So, if a customer searches "water", the results will not find "water fountain". However, if you make the synonyms bi-directional, search replaces all synonyms with the whole string of words. "Water fountain" would turn into "water fountain, drinking fountain, fountain, bubbler", so searching "water" would definitely find the right products.

When creating synonyms, it is required that each Synonym relationship be its own record. This can be completed manually, but adding the various relationships into the list or, if the number or relationships is lengthy, it maybe be easier to create the relationships in Excel and then import them into the list.

Creating synonyms

We will use the bubbler scenario to help provide context for the instructions below. The goal is to make sure when a customer searches for any of those variants of bubbler, they all are returned in the search results.

1. Go to Admin Console > Marketing > Search > Synonyms.
2. Click the Add Synonym .
3. Set the Bidirectional toggle to Yes if this synonym should replace any synonym found with all synonym values. Unidirectional synonyms replace any synonym found with all replacement tokens.
4. Click the Add Synonym icon to enter your synonyms.

Using the steps above and referring to the provided scenario, the following table illustrates what would need to be included in the Synonyms list to satisfy the scenario:

Synonym	Synonym	Bidirectional
Bubbler	water fountain	Yes
Bubbler	drinking fountain	Yes
Bubbler	fountain	Yes