Before the June ‘21 Monthly Release, you could always test out your backend configuration in the UI by using the Answers Test Search module on the right side of your screen. It allowed you to run various searches and preview how results are returned based on your configuration of the backend without having to switch over to your front-end experience.
We have updated our Test Search to an Experience Preview to give you greater visibility into your search configuration’s output, beyond just the order in which results are returned.
With the new Experience Preview, you can view:
Entity Previews: The same entity previews that you can use and configure in Knowledge Graph are also visible in the Answers Test Search module. This allows you to customize each entity type’s preview content settings (such as a photo or particular field). The example below has the photo gallery turned on for product entity previews, so the photos are also appearing in Test Search results:
Learn more about customizable entity previews in this community post.
NLP Filters: Test Search now displays which NLP filters have been applied to a given query. When testing out your backend configuration, you’ll see applied NLP filters appear in the Experience Preview as gray boxes underneath vertical headers, along with a tooltip description specifying each filter used. Here’s an example “open technology jobs at Yext” query being used in Test Search:
Learn more about searchable fields and NLP filters in the Searchable Fields - NLP Filters unit.
Featured Snippets: You can view featured snippets in the test search, making it easier to test and debug queries. This is an easier and faster way to preview how direct answers and featured snippets will appear without having to toggle to your front-end experience live preview or staging link.
Learn more about direct answers and featured snippets in the Direct Answers - Fields and Featured Snippets unit.
Test Searches Appearing in Search Logs: You can now run a test search and see it immediately in the search logs, so that it’s easier to debug queries over time. You can click directly into the Debug in search log link in the Test Search results to view the search log screen.