April 16, 2023 /Technology/ — We’ve all had that frustrating experience of trying to search for something and not finding the results we are after. By building systems that leverage NLP, we can infuse our systems with semantic knowledge and minimize this frustration for end users of our systems.
Free-text search can be limiting, requiring us to search using the exact set of keywords that have been indexed. To go beyond simple text matching requires an understanding of both the search intent and the semantic meaning of the words being searched.

Here are a few practical examples of combining search results with the power of NLP and semantic knowledge:

• Product recommendations: When you search for a product on Amazon, the search results are not just based on the keywords in your query. Amazon also uses NLP to understand the intent of your search and recommend products that are likely to be of interest to you. For example, if you search for “running shoes,” Amazon might recommend a specific brand or style of running shoes, as well as other products that are frequently purchased by people who buy running shoes.
• News aggregation: When you read a news article, you might see links to related articles at the bottom of the page. These links are not just generated randomly. They are generated using NLP to understand the content of the article and identify other articles that are likely to be of interest to you.
• Personalized search results: Google uses NLP to personalize your search results. This means that the results that you see are not just based on the keywords in your query. They are also based on your past search history, your interests, and your location. For example, if you live in New York City and you search for “restaurants,” Google might show you results for restaurants that are located in New York City.
• Virtual assistants: Virtual assistants like Siri and Alexa use NLP to understand your requests and provide you with the information that you need. For example, you can ask Siri to play music, set a reminder, or get directions. Siri uses NLP to understand your request and then take the appropriate action.

These are just a few examples of how NLP and semantic knowledge can be used to improve the search experience. As NLP technology continues to develop, we can expect to see even more innovative and powerful applications of this technology.