In the description document given to us, it was stated that our project should include a semantic search. However, no one in the group knew what semantic search was, so I'm doing this research.

What Is Semantic Search?

Semantic search is a type of search that uses natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning techniques to understand the intent behind a user's search query and provide more accurate and relevant search results. The basic idea behind semantic search is to go beyond traditional keyword-based search methods and use contextual information to better under.

Difference between Lexical and Semantic Search

Lexical search: Also called keyword-based search or exact match search. This approach uses the exact word or phrase typed by the user to match documents or her web pages containing the same keyword. It does not take into account the meaning or context of the words used in the query. For example, if a user searches for "apple", the search engine will return results containing the word "apple" regardless of whether the user is searching for fruit or technology companies.

Semantic search: This approach uses natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning algorithms to understand the meaning and context of a user's query and match it with relevant results. It considers not only the exact words used in the query, but also synonyms, related concepts, and contextual information to provide more accurate and relevant results. For example, when a user searches for "best place to buy apples," the search engine considers the user's location and returns results for nearby fruit stores rather than tech companies.

In summary, lexical search relies only on exact keyword matching, while semantic search focuses on understanding the meaning and intent behind a user's query and what users are searching for. Semantic search engines try to understand the meaning of words in context, rather than simply matching words to keywords or phrases.

Bast, Buchhold, Haussmann, Semantic Search on Text and Knowledge Bases, University of Freiburg, 2016

Mangold, A survey and classification of semantic search approaches, University of Stuttgart, 2007