ANSI partners with Coveo Experience Intelligence Platform for search and delivery of relevant content. The platform utilizes analytics and machine learning technologies to unify disparate content and data and to automate the delivery of relevant, personalized information. Coveo is recognized as a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Insight Engines (2019) and a Leader in The Forrester Wave™: Cognitive Search (2020).
When you use the global search tool on ANSI.org (click on the "magnifying glass" icon on the navigation bar on any page), content from the following ANSI subdomains is included in the search results (in addition to all web pages and documents housed directly on ANSI.org):
In addition to the global search function that exist on every page, there are a few pages that include specialized search, meaning that only the content specific to the section/page is searched when you utilize the search box on that page. You can use the same search techniques as in the main global search box. These pages include:
Please note that the global search includes all of the specialized search content. But when your search focus is solely on specific content, using one of the specialized search boxes on the respective page will be faster and more targeted.
The following Boolean-logic-based techniques will help make your search either very focused and relevant, if that's your goal, or broad and exploratory when needed. They apply to the global search function (via the magnifying glass icon at the top right of every page) as well as the specialized search pages on ANSI.org.
1. To search for content that contains ALL of a group of search terms (anywhere within the content), enter the search terms without any punctuation or with commas between the terms. The search engine’s default Boolean operator is "AND," so with no punctuation between terms it will assume you want only results that include ALL the terms.
Example: public private partnership
2. To search for an exact phrase, wrap your search term in quotes. This will return results with higher precision but lower recall.
Example: "public private partnership"
3. To search for content that contains any one out of a number of search terms, separate each search term with the word "OR." Coveo uses the Boolean operator "OR" to return results that containt at least one of your search terms (i.e., lower precision, higher recall).
Example: public OR private OR partnership
4. To do a partial-word or variations search, enter at least three characters of a term and add an asterisk. This could be useful, for example, if you only remember a few letters of your search term, or you want to search for all variations of a term (e.g., public, publication, publicity, etc.). Search precision will increase with a larger number of characters, whereas recall will increase with fewer characters.
Example: public*
5. To search for an exact search term, precede it with a plus sign. Coveo will return only content that contains your search term in the exact form that you entered, and will not include variations of the term.
Example: +public
Your search results will be returned with a summary heading at the top that includes the number of results, your search terrms, and the sorting tabs (see "Sorting," below).
Each search result listing will include:
Once search results are displayed, the following sorting options are displayed in the upper right corner of the page:
Filters allow you to refine your search results by various criteria. Depending on which search you used (global or specialized), all or some of the following filters will be available:
All filters work the same way: Once your search has generated results, the available filters will display the respective entries (e.g., topics, years), the number of search results returned for each entry, and a checkbox next to each. Checking the box will refine the search results to display only the content that is tagged with the selected entry. You can check multiple boxes to arrive at the search results that best serve your needs.
Coveo utilizes machine learning (ML) technology that continually analyzes search behavior patterns to understand which results and content lead to the best outcomes. There are multiple ML models, and ANSI specifically utilizes two of them:
In short, the ART feature learns what search users seek and delivers it. In more detail, ART analyzes user behavior patterns from various Coveo usage analytics search visit action, such as query refining, reformulation, clicked results understand which content lead to successful outcomes. It automatically adjusts future search results, so that the best-performing content always rises to the top.
ART excels with popular and ambiguous queries, in which users only enter one or two terms, as well as with paragraph-sized queries expressing long descriptions. ART can handle common typographical errors, and it learns implicit synonyms. ART boosts the ranking weight of recommended items so that they appear among the top search results.
Once you place your cursor inside a search box (on any of the search pages), a list of search suggestions will appear underneath the search box. These are suggestions generated by Coveo, but if none of them makes sense to you, you can just ignore them and continue formulating your own search query in the search box.
Here's how Coveo comes up with the suggestions:
