The weighting system is the core of Lumenare Search’s relevance ranking. It determines how important different parts of your content are when matching search queries.
How Weights Work
When content is indexed, keywords are extracted from different parts of each post and assigned weights based on their location:
Title Weight (Default: 3)
Keywords found in post titles receive the highest weight. Titles are the most important indicator of content relevance.
Example: A post titled “WordPress Security Guide” will rank highly for searches containing “WordPress”, “Security”, or “Guide”.
Excerpt Weight (Default: 2)
Keywords found in post excerpts receive medium weight. Excerpts provide a summary of content, making them important for relevance.
If no custom excerpt exists, the first 55 words of content are used as the excerpt.
Content Weight (Default: 1)
Keywords found in post content receive the base weight. Content is the largest source of keywords but less indicative of overall relevance than titles or excerpts.
Taxonomy Term Weighting (Default: Category: 5, Tags: 3)
Keywords matching taxonomy terms (categories, tags, custom taxonomies) receive additional boost:
- Exact matches get full weight
- Partial matches get half weight
Categories typically have higher weight than tags as they represent broader topic classification.
Relevance Score Calculation
When a user searches, the plugin calculates a relevance score for each matching post:
Relevance Score =
(Sum of all matching keyword weights from index)
+ (Phrase boost if exact phrase matched)
+ (Taxonomy boost if keywords match taxonomy terms)
× (Trending boost if trending ranking enabled)Example Calculation
Post Content:
- Title: “WordPress Security Best Practices”
- Excerpt: “Learn how to secure your WordPress site”
- Content: “WordPress security is important…”
- Category: “Security”
- Tags: “WordPress”, “Tutorial”
Search Query: “WordPress security”
Weight Calculation:
| Match Location | Keyword | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Title | “WordPress” | +3 |
| Title | “security” | +3 |
| Excerpt | “WordPress” | +2 |
| Excerpt | “security” | +2 |
| Content | “WordPress” | +1 |
| Content | “security” | +1 |
| Tag (exact) | “WordPress” | +3 |
| Category (exact) | “Security” | +5 |
| Subtotal | 20 | |
| Phrase boost (title) | “WordPress security” | +15 |
| Total | 35 |
Posts are sorted by this relevance score in descending order, with the highest-scoring posts appearing first.
Phrase Boosting
When users search for exact phrases you’ve configured, those results receive a significant boost:
| Match Location | Boost Calculation |
|---|---|
| Title | Multiplier × 3 |
| Excerpt | Multiplier × 2 |
| Content | Multiplier × 1 |
Example: If phrase boost multiplier is 5 (default):
- Phrase in title = 5 × 3 = 15 points
- Phrase in excerpt = 5 × 2 = 10 points
- Phrase in content = 5 × 1 = 5 points
The default phrase boost multiplier is 5, configurable in Settings → Search Quality.
Trending Boost
When Dynamic Trending Ranking is enabled, posts related to trending topics receive a multiplier boost:
Final Relevance = Base Relevance × Trending BoostTrending boost ranges from 1.0 (no boost) to approximately 1.0 + (trending_boost_strength).
Trending scores are calculated based on:
- Recent search frequency
- Growth rate (how quickly searches are increasing)
- Time decay (older trends have lower scores)
The trending boost strength (default: 0.5) controls how much influence trending has on rankings.
Visual Summary
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ RELEVANCE SCORE │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ │
│ ┌─────────────┐ │
│ │ TITLE │ × title_weight (3) │
│ │ keywords │ │
│ └─────────────┘ │
│ + │
│ ┌─────────────┐ │
│ │ EXCERPT │ × excerpt_weight (2) │
│ │ keywords │ │
│ └─────────────┘ │
│ + │
│ ┌─────────────┐ │
│ │ CONTENT │ × content_weight (1) │
│ │ keywords │ │
│ └─────────────┘ │
│ + │
│ ┌─────────────┐ │
│ │ TAXONOMY │ × taxonomy_weight (5/3) │
│ │ matches │ │
│ └─────────────┘ │
│ + │
│ ┌─────────────┐ │
│ │ PHRASE │ × multiplier × location │
│ │ BOOST │ │
│ └─────────────┘ │
│ × │
│ ┌─────────────┐ │
│ │ TRENDING │ (if enabled) │
│ │ BOOST │ │
│ └─────────────┘ │
│ │
│ = │
│ │
│ ┌─────────────┐ │
│ │ FINAL │ │
│ │ SCORE │ │
│ └─────────────┘ │
│ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘Weight Ranges
All weights are configurable between 0-10:
| Value | Effect |
|---|---|
| 0 | Disabled – this content area not indexed |
| 1-2 | Low priority |
| 3-5 | Standard priority |
| 6-8 | High priority |
| 9-10 | Maximum priority |
Note: Setting a weight to 0 excludes that content area from indexing entirely.
Important Concepts
Relative Weights Matter
The ratio between weights is more important than absolute values.
These configurations have the same effect:
- Title: 6, Excerpt: 4, Content: 2
- Title: 3, Excerpt: 2, Content: 1
Both give titles 3× the weight of content.
Reindexing Required
After changing weights, you must reindex your content for changes to take effect.
- Go to Settings → Lumenare Search → Index Management
- Click “Reindex All Content”
Weight changes are applied during indexing, not during search queries.
Match Mode Interaction
Weights affect result ordering, not result inclusion.
- Match ANY (OR): All posts with any keyword appear, ordered by relevance score
- Match ALL (AND): Only posts with all keywords appear, ordered by relevance score
Next Steps
Ready to optimize your weights? Continue to the Tuning Guide →