Contextual navigation (related searches)
Contextual navigation suggests a list of related searches by analysing the result summaries in the set of results returned for a search.
These suggestions are grouped into types and topics related to the original search query.
Contextual navigation surfaces these sub-topics by presenting them to users as suggestions for refining their query. This enables users of all levels to explore large volumes of content more efficiently and intuitively.
Editing contextual navigation settings
To edit contextual navigation settings:
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Select the collection you wish to modify in the manage collection section of the administration home page
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Select edit collection configuration
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Select contextual navigation from the left hand menu
Basic settings
| Option | Description |
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This setting enables display of the contextual navigation output for the selected collection. Note that contextual navigation will not appear on the search results page without a valid template. |
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This setting groups the suggestions into types and topics based on the query. The categorisation algorithm is not always accurate, but in most cases provides a helpful grouping of the suggestions. If set to false, types and topics are grouped together into topics. The default is true. |
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This setting limits the number of type suggestions displayed on the search results page. The default is 15 type suggestions. |
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This setting limits the number of topic suggestions displayed on the search results page. The default is 15 topic suggestions. |
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This setting limits the number of site suggestions displayed on the search results page. The default is 8 site suggestions. |
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Suggestions containing any of these words or phrases will not be displayed as a related search. |
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Suggestions ending in any of these words or phrases will not be displayed as a related search. |
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Words in this list found in any suggestions will be treated as case sensitive when generating the suggestions and case will be preserved. |
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The summary fields are Funnelback metadata classes that are analysed in addition to the page content for the purpose of generating the suggestions. The default summary fields are description ( |
Advanced settings
| Option | Description |
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Limits the maximum length of suggestions to the specified number of words (default is 5). Decreasing this setting will mean that contextual navigation excludes potentially lower quality suggestions at the expense of displaying fewer overall suggestions. |
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Configure how many potential candidate phrases should be processed when generating suggestions (default is 750). This value may be increased to improve suggestion quality but this may lead to slower response time. |
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Specify a maximum number of results to examine when generating suggestions. Default value is empty, which will result in an internal default of 150 results being examined. The absolute maximum that will be examined is 200 results. |
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Specify the type of granularity to be used for contextual navigation site suggestions. The default value is |
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Specify a timeout for how long contextual navigation should run for - if limit is reached then the system will return whatever suggestions it had generated by that point. Default value is empty, which will result in an internal default of 1 second being used. |
How does contextual navigation work?
Contextual navigation works by performing an query-time analysis of an extended set of search result summaries. Commonly occurring phrases that meet certain criteria are presented as related search suggestions. Clicking on a suggestion reveals the search results for that suggestion and a new set of suggestions for further refining the query.
An example of a result page with contextual navigation shown below, with the related search suggestions appearing at the bottom of the result list.
