This article outlines how to troubleshoot issues with the search backend related to the actual entity results not surfacing as expected.

Be sure to follow the How to Start Debugging Backend Search Issues help article for general troubleshooting steps first.

 

General Troubleshooting Steps

You will need to compare the search log for the query you’re troubleshooting against the searchable fields set in the configuration. Start by opening both of these:

1. Check the vertical configuration.
   1. Navigate to Search > [[Experience Name]] > Verticals.
   2. Select the relevant vertical. Here you will see the vertical searchable fields.
2. Open the search log for the query you’re seeing issues for. Either:
   1. Navigate to Search > [[Experience Name]] > Test Search or a Configuration sub-tab. Run a test search and then select Debug Query from the drop-down menu.
   2. If you’ve already run the search in a staging or production link, navigate to Search > [[Experience Name]] > Search Logs and click on the relevant search log. Use the search bar or filters to help you find the correct search log or run the search again to have it appear at the top.

 

This entity is not appearing in my results at all

The following steps walk you through factors that may cause the entity to not show up in the results. Once you determine what the issue is, you may:

• Understand that this result is expected and leave it as is
• Update the configuration searchable fields or query rules
• Update the content for the entity by opening the entity edit page for it

Once you resolve your issue, you may skip the remaining steps.

1. Examine the vertical searchable fields and note what is enabled for the vertical this entity is in.
2. Check the Inferred Filters: In the search log, find the relevant vertical and see if any inferred filters were applied to the vertical. If so, the entity must meet all inferred filters applied exactly.
3. Check the semantic similarity: If semantic search is enabled, check the semantic similarity of the entity (you need to run the query in vertical search and open that search log if it is not appearing in universal search). If this is below the default 0.3, the entity won’t appear in results.
4. Check for query rules: Check whether there was an active query rule that prevented this entity from being returned. Active query rules are shown in the search factors box in the top right of the search log.
5. Check the keyword search/document search/phrase match matches: If these searchable field types are enabled, in the search log, review the search tokens and then the searchable field matches next to each entity in the relevant vertical to see what part of the query the algorithm is matching on.
   1. Confirm the entity in question has these matches.
   2. If the search query consisted of multiple words (e.g. “entity-level search factors”) that were each taken as a separate token (e.g. “entity-level”, “search”, and “factors”), but really should be one token, set up a custom phrase.
      1. Navigate to Search > [[Experience Name]] > General Settings.
      2. Under Custom Phrases, enter the desired phrase.
6. Check for saved filters: Entities will not appear if they do not fall in a set saved filter.
   1. Navigate to Search > [[Experience Name]] > Verticals.
   2. Select the relevant vertical, click on the Settings tab, and find the Saved Filters property.
   3. Note whether a saved filter is selected here and update if needed.
   4. To see what filters are used and what entities are included in this saved filter:
      1. Navigate to Content > Entities.
      2. Click on the funnel icon in the top right corner.
      3. Click on the name of the desired filter to apply that filter.
      4. The applied filters show at the top of the screen and entities that fall in the saved filter are listed below.

 

This entity is appearing higher/lower in the results than expected

1. Check sort order: In the search log, look for the relevant vertical and see what, if any, sort order was applied.
   1. Add or edit the sorting configuration by navigating to Search > [[Experience Name]] > Verticals and click on the Sorting tab. Then add or edit the rules.
2. Check the semantic similarity: Review the semantic similarity for the relevant entity and the ones around it.
   1. If both semantic search and keyword search are enabled, and the semantic similarity exceeds 0.65, the algorithm automatically boosts that result regardless of its token matches.
3. Check for query rules: Check whether there was an active query rule that prevented this entity from being returned. Active query rules are shown in the search factors box in the top right of the search log.
4. Check the keyword search/document search/phrase match matches: If these searchable field types are enabled, in the search log, review the search tokens and then the searchable field matches next to each entity in the relevant vertical to see what part of the query the algorithm is matching on.
   1. Review the number of token matches for this entity compared to others. A higher number of matches would be ranked higher in the results.
   2. Confirm the entity in question has these matches.
   3. If there is a phrase match on a different entity with the same number of token matches, phrase match will apply a boost on that entity so it appears higher in search results.
   4. If the search query consisted of multiple words (e.g. “entity-level search factors”) that were each taken as a separate token (e.g. “entity-level”, “search”, and “factors”), but really should be one token, set up a custom phrase.
      1. Navigate to Search > [[Experience Name]] > General Settings.
      2. Under Custom Phrases, enter the desired phrase.

 

Entities are no longer showing up in my Semantic Search

1. Open the search log for the query you’re seeing issues for. Either:
   
   1. Navigate to Search > [[Experience Name]] > Test Search or a Configuration sub-tab. Run a test search and then select Debug Query from the drop-down menu.
   2. If you’ve already run the search in a staging or production link, navigate to Search > [[Experience Name]] > Search Logs and click on the relevant search log. Use the search bar or filters to help you find the correct search log or run the search again to have it appear at the top.
2. You may also want to open a previous search log where the relevant entity did appear in results. Use the search bar on the Search Logs page to filter for the search term and open one where the entity did appear.
3. Review the semantic score of entities and the difference in semantic scores.
4. Keep in mind that the data science models behind Semantic Search are constantly being improved. This occasionally causes results that were barely relevant before to become irrelevant.

 

Entities with scores below my semantic thresholds are appearing

1. Check the vertical threshold.
   1. Navigate to Search > [[Experience Name]] > Verticals.
   2. Find the relevant vertical note the value for the Threshold.
2. Open the search log for the query you’re seeing issues for. Either:
   1. Navigate to Search > [[Experience Name]] > Test Search or a Configuration sub-tab. Run a test search and then select Debug Query from the drop-down menu.
   2. If you’ve already run the search in a staging or production link, navigate to Search > [[Experience Name]] > Search Logs and click on the relevant search log. Use the search bar or filters to help you find the correct search log or run the search again to have it appear at the top.
3. Review the semantic score of the top entity result in that vertical and review the vertical score. As a reminder, the vertical threshold controls how relevant any entity within the vertical must be for the vertical to appear at all. As long as the top result is above the threshold, the product is working as intended.