Problems with search function


(Ben Chapman) #1

Matrix Version: 5.4.0.2

I am having some odd results with a search function I have created on my website.

The search page searches through a set of support groups for rare diseases:

https://www.nzord.org.nz/support-groups

Each support group is represented by a standard page with the details of the group stored as metadata.

There is only one search field and it searches with OR logic on the standard asset fields of Asset Name and Asset Short Name as well as one metadata field that contains a list of the conditions covered by the support group.

These are some of the odd results I am getting:

  • I was finding that searching for “PNH” did not find the ‘PNH Support Association of New Zealand’ despite “PNH” being in the name of the asset. When I included “PNH” in the metadata field, it was able to find the group. I did not have the same problem with “PKU” for the ‘PKU New Zealand Charitable Trust’.
  • A search for “Fragile X” brings up several results, basically everything that has a word containing “x”. However, it does not pick up the “Fragile X New Zealand Trust”. However, a search for “fragile” will find it.
  • A search for “mal de debarquement” won’t find the “Mal de Debarquement Syndrome Support Group”, though a search for either “mal” or “debarquement” will.

I’m clearly missing some understanding of how the search function works. Why is it not searching the asset name as consistently as the metadata fields? Why is the addition of additional words (e.g. “x” in “fragile x”) leading to a highly relevant result not showing up?


(Bart Banda) #2

Hi Ben,
A lot of it depends on what you have set in the Search Manager asset’s Details screen on how you want assets and words to be indexed. https://matrix.squiz.net/manuals/search/chapters/search-manager#Details-Screen

For example, if you don’t have a minimum word length value, and individual letters like “X” get indexed, you would most likely get some undesired results.

Note that you also need to re-index the assets you want to re-test after you have made changes on this screen.