How does the search rank work in Flare?

[Username_password]

Hi how exactly does the search rank work in Flare?
If I search for a phrase without quotes does it sum the occurrence of each word and the topic with the most value gets in top?

or is it calculating based on context in some way?

example


search parameter: news of aeroplane landing

number of occurence in topic:
news 1
of: excluded
aeroplane:2
landing: 3
Sum: 6 - rank based on this sum?

[NorthEast]

See this article in the MadCap knowledgebase:
http://kb.madcapsoftware.com/default.htm#cshid=OUTA1008F

The search can also include/exclude index terms in your topics, which is set in the target.

[Username_password]

See this article in the MadCap knowledgebase:
http://kb.madcapsoftware.com/default.htm#cshid=OUTA1008F

The search can also include/exclude index terms in your topics, which is set in the target.

How much weight is given to the different types, can it be modified?
It will help me understand in what way we can improve our topics in order to optimize the ranking

"More weight is given to Topic title, then Heading 1 to Heading 6 styles and then body tags."

[Username_password]

See this article in the MadCap knowledgebase:
http://kb.madcapsoftware.com/default.htm#cshid=OUTA1008F

The search can also include/exclude index terms in your topics, which is set in the target.

How much weight is given to the different types, can it be modified?
It will help me understand in what way we can improve our topics in order to optimize the ranking

"More weight is given to Topic title, then Heading 1 to Heading 6 styles and then body tags."

I guess this information is not official

[NorthEast]

See this article in the MadCap knowledgebase:
http://kb.madcapsoftware.com/default.htm#cshid=OUTA1008F

The search can also include/exclude index terms in your topics, which is set in the target.

How much weight is given to the different types, can it be modified?
It will help me understand in what way we can improve our topics in order to optimize the ranking

"More weight is given to Topic title, then Heading 1 to Heading 6 styles and then body tags."

I guess this information is not official

That knowledgebase article is the only official information I'm aware of - you could always ask MadCap support and see if they have any more information.

[livetoski]

There is the option to allow the heading 1 in a topic to become the topic title by default.
Is the impact on search the same as if I had specified a topic title? The first topic heading does not appear in the Text Editor, like the topic title would.

Curiously, with the upgrade to Flare 10, I only see (Always use first topic heading) in the Topic Title text box when I am about to click OK and the field is empty, and the field is empty when I return to the properties.

topic title.png

[Nita Beck]

There is the option to allow the heading 1 in a topic to become the topic title by default.

I believe that option comes into play only when creating a topic. I don't believe there is any project-wide option by which Flare will automatically create topic titles for topics whose topic titles were originally left blank when the topics were created. (I could be wrong, but I'm fairly certain of this.)

Also, it's not that Flare creates the topic title from the first *heading 1* it encounters. Rather, it uses the *first heading* of any heading level that it encounters.

[livetoski]

Hi Nita, in Flare 9, the text Always use first topic heading was visible when you looked at the properties, until you typed in something to be used as the topic title. This lead me to believe it was a project-wide default.

Now, the text is only fleetingly visible. I just tested this, creating a new topic to see what happened. I opened the new topic's properties, did nothing and clicked OK, and the text Always use first topic heading is visible. When I open the properties a second time, same thing, field is empty until I click OK. Leaving me wondering. Can I safely assume that the topic title is being replaced, as far as search is concerned, with the heading 1.

here's the question: Do I need to type something into every topic title field for every topic to ensure the best results for search? I suspect not, but would like to know for sure. My topic titles would be little different to my heading 1s.

[Nita Beck]

Let's take the questions (including implied questions) one at a time.

When one creates a new topic, on the Add File dialog, there is a Title field. If one leaves this field blank, then there is no explicit title set for the topic. (If we were to look in the code, we'd not see a <title> tag within the <head> tag of the topic.)

Once said topic exists, if one examines the (Topic) Properties dialog's Topic Properties tab, the Topic Title field will be blank, because a title was not given at creation. In the absence of a title, Flare has been designed to use the first heading (of ANY heading level, not specifically an <h1>) it encounters in that topic (and that topic only) as that topic's title.

Where might a topic title come into play? One example is that when a topic is dragged from the Content Explorer onto a TOC, Flare has been programmed to have the TOC item's wording match the topic title or, in the absence of a topic title, match the first heading (of any level) encountered in the topic. Another example are links generated from a relationship table. Flare will first look for topic titles in order to craft the wording of the links, and in the absence of topic titles, it will turn to the first heading encountered.

I can't say for certain how Flare's search algorithm works regarding topic titles vs. first heading encountered, but I assume that it works the same way as the above. If you want absolute certainly, the folks to ask are MadCap tech support.

If you did want to use topic titles in the topics you've already created, then you'd need to enter a topic title for each individual one, as doing so will add a <title> tag within the <head> tag of that topic.

Personally, I rarely use topic titles. In fact, if I've imported content from elsewhere, say RoboHelp, one of my cleanup tasks is to remove the <title> tags throughout. I want the flexibility of changing the first heading in a topic as needed, without having to think about needing to edit the topic title, too. And I saw a situation once in a Flare project that had been translated into French for which none of the topic titles had been translated, so we'd see certain links (such as those created from a relationship table) still in English. (It took us a while to track down where that English was coming from; sure enough, the <title> tags.) And I bet that in that situation, search would have been affected because there was no French in the <title> tags.

Sorry to have gone off on a dissertation. Just trying to be helpful and informative to all who read this thread.

[livetoski]

Thank you so much Nita! That was most helpful and informative and especially the bit about NOT using Topic Titles. I appreciated your dissertation.

[Nita Beck]

You're very welcome!

Hey, I see you are in Ottawa. Have you joined the Ottawa Flare User Group? If not, you can find their contact info on this page on MadCap's website: http://www.madcapsoftware.com/community/. They also have a group on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Ottawa-Flare-User-Group. Their next meeting is April 23, 2014.

[livetoski]

Thanks very much Nita, I actually sit beside the guy running the group, Pat Calnan! I will be in Europe for the next meeting, unfortunately. He will be happy to know you pointed me to him! Linda

[Nita Beck]

Say "hi" to Pat! I'll see him next week at MadWorld. We met last year... Great guy!