No sorting for search results?

hi,

tes the default sorting set there is also use as default sorting method for search if no search criteria is input by the user.

If the user input any search criteria (keyword, location, etc), sorting will be done by relevancy with the user’s input (like every Directory)

Thanks

I will take one last crack at explaining this…

Basically there are two ways to do searches, lets call them “EXACT” and “UNEXACT”
Years ago we used the EXACT method but we had so many customers complain users could not find results that we changed to the UNEXACT method, below is an example:

Example: Let’s say a user is searching for a two worded search, lets make it very ambiguous to prove the point “xyz indian”:

EXACT: “xyz indian” for an exact search would need to match “xyz” AND “indian” to display any results. If you got any results then it makes sense to filter them as there will be very few exact results, this also makes sense as yelp is limited to one type of subject matter: FOOD.

UNEXACT: “xyz indian” for an unexact search only one word “xyz” OR “indian” would need to match to display results. If you spell the first part wrong or don’t know the exact name or only part of it then it does not matter you will still see results for things that contain the word “indian” if this is an indian restaurant page then our search will WEIGHT the search to show the most reliant listings at the top but it will also get listings that merely mention “indian” once in passing, if you then ordered the listings by “highest rated” you might end up with the top 10 listings being tourist shops that sell “american indian” souvenirs…

There are trade off to using both, Yelp used EXACT and TripAdvisor used UNEXACT, try searching “xyz indian” on both.

If you spell one word wrong or only know part of a name then EXACT search mostly won’t help you, UNEXACT search will, which is why we changed search to this way after lots of requests from users. What one would u prefer?

Hopefully this explains it a bit better? I await you feedback.

Stiofan

I think that was our compromise for not having almost all listings return for simple searches, the search words are UNEXACT for the title and slightly more exact for the post content:
Example:

wp_posts.post_title LIKE "asian food" 
                OR ( wp_posts.post_title LIKE "asian" 
                      OR wp_posts.post_title LIKE "asian%" 
                      OR wp_posts.post_title LIKE "% asian%" ) 
                OR ( wp_posts.post_title LIKE "food" 
                      OR wp_posts.post_title LIKE "food%" 
                      OR wp_posts.post_title LIKE "% food%" ) ) 
              OR ( wp_posts.post_content LIKE "asian food" 
                    OR wp_posts.post_content LIKE "asian food%" 
                    OR wp_posts.post_content LIKE "% asian food%" 
                    OR wp_posts.post_content LIKE "%>asian food%" 
                    OR wp_posts.post_content LIKE "% asian food%" )

As i have said before, if we can find an perfect solution i would be more than happy to implement it.

Giving the option to use EXACT or UNEXACT i guess could be an option but i am not sure the demand is there for it numbers wise.

If it was left UNEXACT and ratings were added and someone searched for “band” and then order by rating you might get a computer repair shop that has “bandwidth” in the description first.

The only thing i though of in the past was doing something like order by “Relevance + Highest rated” where we take the rating and add it into the weighted calculation, but this way you might not have the highest rated fist or even in order, but something more relevant but with a higher rating. It could also get complicated depending on the sort type.

Again, feedback welcome…

Stiofan