What is Semantic Search?
Semantic Search — A search technique that aims to understand the searcher’s intent and contextual meaning rather than just matching keywords.
Semantic search understands that ‘best laptop for programming’ and ‘top developer notebook’ mean the same thing, even though they share no keywords. It uses embeddings to match intent rather than exact words, delivering dramatically more relevant results.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is semantic search different from keyword search?
Keyword search matches exact words. Semantic search understands meaning — it knows that ‘car’ and ‘automobile’ are the same concept even without keyword overlap.
What technology powers semantic search?
Embedding models convert text into vectors, and vector databases store and search those vectors. The combination enables matching by meaning rather than keywords.
Can I add semantic search to my existing application?
Yes. Tools like Elasticsearch now support vector search natively. You can also add a vector database alongside your existing search infrastructure for hybrid keyword + semantic search.