Rating a Search Result

In .NET search interfaces such as My Files, People, and Intranet, you can express your personal appreciation of a search result by rating a document or an item.

Personal appreciation is a score that you, as a user, can assign to a document or item to reflect your perception of its relevance to the query. By rating a search result on a 1 to 3 yellow stars scale , you can influence the search result ranking (see Understanding Search Results Ranking). The Coveo Platform uses your personal appreciation to immediately modify the ranking of a search result and to calculate its collaborative rating.

Collaborative rating appears as a 1 to 3 gray stars score (two stars by default when nobody has ranked the search result) under each search result. The Coveo Platform calculates collaborative rating as an average of the personal appreciations given to each document by users of the same group and uses it as one of the ranking factors. Because this process is performed independently for each user group, it tailors ranking to different types of users.

Personal appreciation prevails on collaborative rating meaning that, once you rate a search result, its collaborative rating score is no longer taken into account.

Rating a search result is useful when you find that its automatic ranking in the current query is not appropriate from your point of view or that of your group. This immediately changes its position in the search results page. You or other members of your group also benefit from this corrected rating the next time the same query is performed.

Assigning a personal appreciation to a search result

1. After performing a search where you identified a document for which you want to contribute to its rating, locate the three gray stars in the search result of the document.

   

2. Click the appropriate star to modify the search result ranking as follows:

   • – Click the star on the right to increase the document relevance score. 

     The document rank is immediately promoted in the search results list and three yellow stars appear.

     

   • – Click the star in the center to leave the current document relevance score as is, for example to counter balance collaborative ratings by other members of your group.

     The document rank is not modified in the search results list and two yellow stars appear.

   • – Click the star on the left to decrease the document relevance score.

     The document rank is immediately demoted in the search results list and one yellow star appears.

Removing or modifying a personal appreciation

1. To delete your personal appreciation for a document, right-click on the yellow stars.

   The document rank is immediately adjusted according to the automatic relevance score in the search results list and the appropriate number of gray stars appear.

2. To modify your personal appreciation:

   1. First delete your current appreciation by right-clicking on the yellow stars.

   2. Click the appropriate gray star to assign your personal appreciation (see Assigning a personal appreciation to a search result).