When to use value and record search

Value search is sometimes confused with record search. This topic provides examples of when to use each type of search.

Understanding the differences between the two basic types of keyword search (record search and value search) is important before creating a solution for a specific business problem. Use the following recommendations:
Type of keyword search When to use
Value search

In general, data sets with little descriptive text and extensive attribute values of type string that represent the most frequently searched terms (for example, autos) are a good fit for value search.

Keyword searches are usually suitable for such keywords as make, model, or year. These keywords are also likely candidates for being configured as managed attributes in your application.

Record search

Data sets with descriptive text or names (such as news articles) are better suited for record search. This is because a reasonable set of attribute values for such a data set cannot be expected to cover all the terms required to handle keyword search.

In such cases, text search allows an application to search directly against record text (such as the body of an article).

For many applications, a combination of value search and record search is the best solution. In this case, separate value search and text search queries are executed simultaneously for the same keywords:

Keep in mind that navigation queries and value search queries are completely independent. In the scenario described above where both queries are executed simultaneously, neither query affects the other. Record search is a variation of a navigation query. Record search could return results even though value search does not, and vice-versa.