Chapter 2. Search—under the hood
This chapter covers
- Basic concepts required to understand search technologies
- Data structures that make search possible
- Internal mechanics for searching and retrieving documents
- Overview of data extraction, enrichment, analysis, and indexing
Search is a conversation between a user and a search engine. The user attempts to satisfy an information need by providing search with appropriate constraints describing relevant content. The search engine uses those constraints to collect matches, providing them to the user. If the user is satisfied with a match, that user will inspect individual items in further detail. Otherwise, the user will refine the search criteria and try again. Your work is to facilitate this conversation. You must ensure that search results are relevant and you must help users understand why results match, enabling them to refine their searches.