To harness the powerful capabilities of Unified/Hybrid Search in HawkSearch, a structured process must be followed. This process ensures the feature is enabled and configured correctly, providing a seamless integration of Keyword and AI-powered Concept and Image searches. Unified/Hybrid Search unifies the capabilities of Keyword search, Concept Search, and Image Search delivering:

Broaden Search Coverage: Uncover more relevant products by combining precise keyword matches with context-aware results, ensuring no valuable content is overlooked.
Eliminate Zero Results: Seamlessly provide fallback results using Concept and Image Search when keyword searches fail, reducing user frustration and abandonment.
Boost Relevancy: Prioritize and surface the most meaningful products by intelligently merging and ranking results common to both keyword and concept searches.

Feature Activation

The Unified/Hybrid Search feature must be enabled by our internal personnel. To initiate this process, please contact our CSD team via email. Our team will assist in configuring Unified/Hybrid Search and ensure it is set up correctly for your environment.

To enable Unified/Hybrid Search, Concept Search and Image Search must first be enabled in the HawkSearch Workbench. Additionally, if you wish to include image search capabilities in Unified/Hybrid Search, you will need to enable Image Search. For more details on enabling these search types, visit the documentation for Concept Search and Image Search.

How Unified/Hybrid Search Works

Unified/Hybrid Search combines results from both Keyword search, Concept Search, and Image Search in a single query. This provides a comprehensive search experience by leveraging the strengths of both methods.

Logical Disjunction: Unified/Hybrid Search performs an inclusive OR operation, meaning results can come from either Keyword search, Concept Search, or both.
Fallback Logic: If Keyword search does not return any results, Unified/Hybrid Search automatically behaves like Concept Search and Image Search and retrieves relevant results.
Boosted Relevancy: Products common to all Keyword, Concept, and Image Search are automatically boosted for higher relevance.
Optimized Results: Unified/Hybrid Search avoids artificially inflating results by ensuring only contextually relevant products are displayed.

Making Unified/Hybrid Search Request

With the feature enabled and configured, you will be able to perform Unified/Hybrid Search queries.

Example Request:

{
    "ClientGuid": "xxxxx",
    "RequestType":"UnifiedSearch",
    "Keyword": "hiking boots for mountain trails"
}

Frequently Asked Questions

If a Keyword search doesn’t return any results, will Unified/Hybrid Search help?
Yes, Unified/Hybrid Search ensures you still receive relevant results. If a Keyword search does not return any items, Unified/Hybrid Search automatically uses Concept Search to find contextually relevant results. This reduces the chances of empty search results and improves the user experience.
Will products appear twice if they are found in both Keyword and Concept Search?
No, Unified/Hybrid Search intelligently eliminates duplicates. When a product appears in both Keyword and Concept Search results, it is displayed only once. Additionally, these common products are automatically boosted higher in the results for improved relevancy.
Why does Unified/Hybrid Search sometimes return fewer results than a Keyword search? Isn’t it supposed to show more?
Unified/Hybrid Search generally returns more results by combining keyword search with AI-powered Concept Search. However, keyword-only searches may include additional results by matching partial keywords, which can increase the total number of items but may reduce overall relevancy.
If Keyword search returns 20 items and Concept Search returns 30 items, will Unified/Hybrid Search return 50 items?
If there is no overlap between the two sets of results, Unified/Hybrid Search will return 50 items (20 from keyword search + 30 from Concept Search). However, if some products appear in both searches, Unified/Hybrid Search will removes duplicates and displays these common products only once. The total number of Unified/Hybrid Search results will always be less than or equal to the sum of keyword search and Concept Search results.
Can I control the priority of results between Keyword search and Concept Search in Unified/Hybrid Search?
Yes, we offer flexibility to prioritize results from either Keyword search or Concept Search based on your business goals. If you’d like more control over how these results are balanced or displayed, our internal team can help configure this for you. We also provide further customization options to tailor the search behavior even more closely to your specific requirements. For more details on these advanced capabilities, please connect with our CSD team to discuss your preferences and ensure the search results align with your specific needs.