I tried to read the previous threads on that topic, but it didn't help. So the problem is, while most of the time the score difference is quite predictable, sometimes it just doesn't make sense (from the outsider POV). For example, while searching for a quite popular series, somehow this obscure one has a much higher score. Which is by all means unexpected. I'm not saying that there's something wrong with the score calculation, but maybe it needs some refinement :)
@obdue wrote:
I tried to read the previous threads on that topic, but it didn't help. So the problem is, while most of the time the score difference is quite predictable, sometimes it just doesn't make sense (from the outsider POV). For example, while searching for a quite popular series, somehow this obscure one has a much higher score. Which is by all means unexpected. I'm not saying that there's something wrong with the score calculation, but maybe it needs some refinement :)
Your first link takes us to a page of code, but tagging @david in here as its his area of expertise
@TomSouthwell wrote:
Your first link takes us to a page of code, but tagging @david in here as its his area of expertise
Thanks! Yeah, it's the API search results, I thought it was appropriate in the API forums.
The score is a combination of relevance and popularity. Relevance is how much the show's name matches the search query. This sounds simple, but in fact comes with a dozen little quirks. What's happening in this case is that show names that match with a higher percentage of the search query get priority. That's particularly important for search terms that are very common. For example, if you search for "power", you'd want the show "Power Rangers" to rank a lot higher than "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power". But that also means in your example, "Icons Unearthed: The Lord of the Rings" is a better match (the query matches 5 out of 7 words = 71% of the show name) than "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" (the query matches 5 out of 9 words = 55% of the show name).
In some cases, a show's popularity can boost it on top of other results even if it's a worse match. But that ability to boost isn't unlimited, because then highly popular shows would always come on top even if they're not a great match with what you're looking for.
@david wrote:
The score is a combination of relevance and popularity. Relevance is how much the show's name matches the search query. This sounds simple, but in fact comes with a dozen little quirks. What's happening in this case is that show names that match with a higher percentage of the search query get priority. That's particularly important for search terms that are very common. For example, if you search for "power", you'd want the show "Power Rangers" to rank a lot higher than "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power". But that also means in your example, "Icons Unearthed: The Lord of the Rings" is a better match (the query matches 5 out of 7 words = 71% of the show name) than "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" (the query matches 5 out of 9 words = 55% of the show name).
Shouldn't the position of the query in the result also contribute to the score? I mean, the results where the query is located earlier probably should be considered more relevant? So "Power Rangers", or rather "Power" will be higher not only because the title has fewer words in it, but because the title begins with "power".
