Synonyms – Ometria Help Centre

You can create a list of synonyms (words that mean the same thing), compound words, substitutions and text in Ometria.

By grouping these words together, you can create a smoother search experience on your store site, e.g. if a visitor searches "xmas", results for Christmas will display.

Go to: Website personalisaton > Site Search > Synonyms

Create a synonym collection

Select +Create synonym collection.

Complete the fields:

Field	Description
Name	Enter a memorable name for your synonym collection.
Strategy	Choose from: Apply synonyms at index time - Recommended Apply synonyms at query time Text transformations
Original term weighting	Toggle on to give the 'original term' (i.e. the word you use on your website) a higher weighting in search results. E.g. if a visitor searches for "suits", it could carry more weight than "tuxedo" or "workwear". Note: You must enter your original terms into the left-hand field in your mapping.
Original Term Exclusions	Toggle on to exclude the 'original term' (i.e. the word you use on your website) from the index.

Equivalent and directional terms

Use the tab for Equivalent Terms to define words and phrases that mean the same thing.

For example, entering “TShirt, T-Shirt, T Shirt” means that a search for any one of these terms will return the same products.

Separate each word or phrase with a comma.

Use the tab for Directional Terms to define one-way synonyms, where a word matches another word, but not the other way around.

For example, putting “Sweater” in the left box and “Jumper” in the right box means:

A search for Sweater will return both Sweaters and Jumpers.
A search for Jumper will return only Jumpers.

Separate each word or phrase with a comma.

Mapping synonyms

We recommend creating the following collections:

Compound words
Standard synonyms
Substitutions
Text transformations

Compound words

Compound words are words that can be typed as two words, e.g. backpack as back pack, raincoat as rain coat, etc.

Enter the term you use on your site in the left-hand field, and any variations in the right-hand field:

Standard synonyms

A synonym is a word with the same meaning as another word, e.g. 'close' and 'shut', 'jumper' and 'sweater'.

Enter your lists of synonyms in the right-hand field (separated by commas), and leave the left blank:

Substitutions

A substitution is a word your visitor enters in the search bar which isn't used in your website data/products data, but you have another word that means the same thing, e.g. "xmas" instead of "Christmas".

Enter the term you don't use in your data in the left-hand field, and the term you do use on the right:

In this example, if a visitor searches "xmas" on your site, the search looks for "Christmas" instead.

Text transformations

Note: Text transformations are usually technical modifications managed by Ometria. Contact your Customer Success Representative for help.

A text transformation is a term with various common spellings, e.g. "t-shirt", "tee shirt", "tshirt", "teeshirt", etc., which can be converted into a simple form for the search function.

Two word synonyms

When a visitor searches for a phrase that you've defined as a synonym, Ometria doesn't treat it as an ordinary search - it uses the exact phrase to match with a synonym.

This means that if your synonym has two or more words, e.g. "leather jacket", "suede jacket" you must make sure that you enter them exactly as they are spelled in your product catalogue.

If a visitor searched "leather jackets", it won't match "leather jacket" exactly, even if both words are used in the title and description of the product.

This means that the search might not return any products.