Boosting results refers to the ability to make Doofinder give more importance to certain results. Learn how does it work and how to boost results from the Doofinder Control Panel.
Notice: If you want to learn how to boost results from your data feed then read this article.
Doofinder uses a scoring system when returning search results. Each time you perform a search, Doofinder returns the results with a score attribute for every result. The score is just a numeric value Doofinder assigns to each search result depending on how ‘close’ that particular result is to the performed search. Results are then ordered by that score, so you get the results with a higher score first.
Boosting items: boost factor
The scoring system is based on Doofinder own calculations, which are pretty good, but you may need certain items to perform better than others when searching. In such situation, you can boost certain items so they are scored better when processing a search request.
You can do this by applying a boosting factor to an item in the boosting section of you Doofinder’s administration panel.
The boosting factor
In the boosting page of Doofinder’s administration, perform a search. You will be presented then with the search results for the performed search. Each result comes with the name, the score Doofinder has computed for that search, and an input field. The input field is for modifying the boost factor of the item (it defaults to 1.0). You can specify a greater -or lower- boost factor for the item there. If you specify a value greater than 1, the item will perform better when searching. If you specify a value lower than 1, but higher than 0, it will perform poorer.
NOTICE: Boost factor must be always higher than 0. Otherwise, the feed will deliver an error.
Learn by example
- Log into your Doofinder’s Administration Panel.
- Choose a Search Engine and access the Boosting Section.
- Perform a search.
- Modify boosting factor on one of the result items. Don’t forget to press Save.
- Then click on refresh to perform the search again. You will see how the result item you modified now shows up in a different position, according to the boosting factor you entered.
The ‘auto boost’ feature
Besides all these manual boosting , doofinder performs some auto boosting. It searches for the more hitted results of a certain period, and apply a boost to those items, in the presumption that those items are indeed more searched by the users.
This feature can be deactivate or modified under settings subsection in Boosting section.
Feel free to contact our Support Department, dropping a mail to support@doofinder.com if you need any help.