Semantic search

Semantic search is a search that understands the intent of the query rather than simply looking for word matches. The user writes “how to reduce the cost of acquisition” - the system finds articles about CPL, LTV, funnel optimization, even if they do not contain this exact phrase. It works by converting texts into embeddings and searching by cosine similarity.

In my practice, semantic search has changed the approach to internal search of client knowledge bases. Previously, call center operators could not find an answer if the wording of the question differed even slightly from the wording in the database. After introducing semantic search, 9 out of 10 cases are found. The difference in conversation conversion is noticeable.

This is also fundamental for SEO: modern Google and Yandex search have been working semantically for a long time. A page can get to the top for a request that is literally not on it - if the content matches the intent. Hence the recommendations to write “for people, not for robots” - these are not empty words, but a description of how ranking actually works.