Boolean-only relevance scoring
Super Speedy Search ranks results by scoring each weighted field: title, content, excerpt, metadata and taxonomy descriptions. By default each of those fields is scored with two full-text matches, one in natural-language mode and one in boolean mode, and the two scores are added together before your weights are applied. The setting Score each weighted field with one full-text match instead of two uses only the boolean match. That halves the scoring work, which shows most on broad searches with many results.
Available since 5.95.0.
Where to find it
Go to Super Speedy Search > Multi-search and scroll to Large Catalogues and Archives. Tick Score each weighted field with one full-text match instead of two and save. It is off by default, and no rebuild is needed: it changes how the search query scores rows, not what the index holds.
What changes, and what does not
| With the setting ticked | |
|---|---|
| Which products are found | The same products as with it off |
| Result counts | The same |
| Relevance scores | Different, because each field contributes one match instead of two |
| Order of results | Can change |
| Your weights | Still applied to each field as configured |
Each full-text match costs the database one search of that field’s index for the whole query, however many rows it ends up scoring. Dropping the natural-language match removes one of those searches per weighted field. A broad search, such as a single common word or a category name that most products share, gains the most, because those index searches return the most documents.
A field weighted 0, or Meta Weight switched off, runs no full-text match at all, with or without this setting. Its contribution to the score is 0 either way, so the result is identical and the database skips the work.
When to tick it
- Large catalogues where broad searches are slow
- Stores happy to trade a small change in ranking for faster scoring
- Stores that have tuned their weights carefully against a set of known searches and need that exact order kept
Test it against the searches your shoppers make most often. Your Analytics & Caching report lists them. Search each one with the setting off, note the first page, tick the setting and compare. If the top results are the ones you want, keep it on.
Do not re-tune your weights at the same time as ticking this setting. Change one thing, compare the results, then adjust weights if you need to. Otherwise you cannot tell which change moved a product.
The same section holds Limit weighted relevance ranking to an initial full-text candidate set, which caps how many rows are fully scored, and Skip searches made only of words shorter than 3 characters, described in Skipping searches made only of short words. Each is independent, so you can tick any combination.
Further reading
Written for Super Speedy Search 5.95.0.
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