Hey team,
I am wondering if we have a POV/best practice around using synonyms or a custom field like Answers Keywords to improve query results.
I have a customer that often emails me different synonyms to add to their config (for example: jobs as a synonym for hiring to show the FAQ: Is xyz hiring?). I’m wondering if it makes sense to add these “synonyms” as Answers Keywords on the entity level in the KG instead of synonyms in the backend, so that it’s easier for my day to days to add more as they go rather than reaching out to me every time to add more synonyms on the backend. I’ve tested a few out, and it seems to have the same outcome but wondering if there’s any implications for using the custom field Answers Keywords strategy rather than synonyms in the config.
Let me know if you need more context!
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Hey Emmy,
If you are trying to get a specific entity to show up for a given search, Answers Keywords is a great way to solve that situation. If you are trying to adjust the search results more holistically (across EVERY entity) then a synonym would work better. Another way to think about it, if you find yourself adding the same keyword to a ton of entities, this could indicate that a synonym is a better way to handle the situtation.
Let me know if you have any followup questions,
Max
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Totally makes sense - thanks Max! I think I’ll go with the Answers Keywords approach here for this client. They love being in the platform and would appreciate the ability to be more self serve in regard to affecting the results displayed. Just wanted to make sure there were no negative implications that I wasn’t considering before telling them to add Answers Keywords. Sounds like it’s a solid approach though.
Hey there,
thanks a lot for your response. Actually, we have a similar problem. But in detail, it is more specific, but interesting for other answers users…
We have a lot of products, which will be described with different abbreviations. E.g. “BKK”, “BKKAZ”, “BKKAZ+”, “TG100”, “TG200” and so on. We store these in the “keywords” field in the respective entity. As you can see, the single keywords are different, on the other hand the first letters often not.
Is it possible to store them with “wild cards” like “BKK*” or “BKK?” (or something like that) in the keywords field? It would greatly simplify the maintenance of the data / the products. Assumed that they could still be found in Answers, even if the user search for “BKKAZ” and so on…
If that is not possible (now?), maybe to store data with wildcards in the “Synonyms” in Answers?
Even if all of the above is not possible…other approaches? 
Thanks a lot. Please tell me, if you have to know more about our problem.
Heiko