[wp-meta] [Making WordPress.org] #1692: Plugin search quality improvements

[Making WordPress.org]

#1692: Plugin search quality improvements
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 Reporter:  tellyworth                           |       Owner:  tellyworth
     Type:  enhancement                          |      Status:  assigned
 Priority:  normal                               |   Milestone:  Plugin
Component:  Plugin Directory                     |  Directory v3.0
 Keywords:  dev-feedback needs-docs 2nd-opinion  |  Resolution:
  needs-testing                                  |
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Comment (by awcode):

 Maybe a few are relevant but bulk aren't.

 Don't see any relevance at all in # 2 result "The ultimate toolkit for
 theme developers using the WordPress Customizer"
 Seems a few mentions of the word in the changelog, thats it, nothing in
 title, description or tags that is even remotely connected that I can see.

 Backup/migration/email plugins I can kind of see the connection, although
 the only one that someone may actually be intending with a phrase like
 this would be data migration, eg "transport my data". Interestingly
 modifying to this phrase actually removes/demotes these relevant ones.

 Redis object cache - completely irrelevant except for one mention of
 "transport layer security" and lots of installs.


 Is it possible to group results before ordering?
 eg. results with an 90-100% relevancy are at the top and then popularity
 sorting applies to that batch.
 Then 70-90% relevancy below sorted internally by popularity.
 Then these anomalies would be in the 40-70% relevancy section and buried
 on page 4 rather than in top 5 just because they have lots more installs
 than the more relevant matches.


 On a more specific phrase try https://wordpress.org/plugins-
 wp/search/transport+booking/
 # 2 - Responsive coming soon!
 # 3 - Responsive pricing table!

 # 1 is semi related to this phrase, only other one is Transporters.io
 right at bottom of this page.
 Disclaimer: I am associated with this plugin and can confirm that people
 are actively searching for transportation related plugins using searches
 like this on a daily basis. Not yet had anyone mistakenly install it when
 they were really looking for an email/backup/redis cache tool instead.


 Replying to [comment:130 gibrown]:
 > @awcode I'm not sure I would agree that none of the new results are
 relevant since at least a few of them are also on the old search page. For
 "data transport" the new results look ok-ish. It is a very niche and
 ambiguous term, but that is what makes it interesting to look at. The
 "data transport" plugins are kinda swamping out other results.
 >
 > I'm having a hard time figuring out what a good result would be though.
 What is your intention when using that search term? Is it public
 transportation? BTW, I think there is also a British vs American English
 aspect here as well. "transport" is not how I (as an American) would
 search for transportation plugins, but again that makes it interesting
 because it means that the language on the plugins is a bit different.
 "transportation" doesn't really do very well on the new search either...
 >
 > https://wordpress.org/plugins/transportersio/ (the only one that is
 really up to date and we should be )
 > https://wordpress.org/plugins/transport-and-business-locator/
 > https://wordpress.org/plugins/transizroutes/
 > https://wordpress.org/plugins/transitart/
 >
 > Seem like the best results, but all are getting pretty out of date.
 Kinda feels like an area where there aren't any good solutions.
 >
 > I do agree with you that the search is matching partial words too much.
 Planning to experiment more with that today to see if I can come up with
 some better solutions. Will play with this example some more.
 >
 > Thanks for the feedback.

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Ticket URL: <https://meta.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/1692#comment:136>
Making WordPress.org <https://meta.trac.wordpress.org/>
Making WordPress.org