Things Not Strings
Understanding Semantic Search
What is it?
What is it?
Semantic Search seeks to improve search accuracy by
understanding searcher intent and the contextual
meaning of terms as they appear in the searchable
dataspace, whether on the Web or within a closed system, to
generate more relevant results.
Source: http://mashable.com/category/semantic-search/
But…
What does it really mean?
What does it really mean?
Matching vs. Understanding
Matching
Keywords
Results
Understanding
Intent
“Things”
“Quentin Tarantino” is a person.
“Quentin Tarantino” makes movies.
Understanding
Intent
“Things”
Things=
Relationships
How does it work?
Web1.0
Producer Consumer
Web 2.0 C/P
C/P
C/P
C/P = Consumer/Producer
How does it work?
Semantic Web
C/P
C/P = Consumer/Producer
C/P C/P
How does it work?
How does it work?
How does it work?
Canary = Yellow, Diamond= Type of precious Rock, Bangle= Some type of bracelet
How does it work?
How does it work?
ABC Attorneys
123 Main Street
Malibu, CA 90263
(555) 423-2352
<div itemscope itemtype=”http://schema.org/Attorney”>
<span itemprop=”name”>ABC Attorneys</span>
<div itemprop=”address” itemscope itemtype=”http://schema.org/PostalAddress”>
<span itemprop=”streetAddress”>123 Main Street</span>
<span itemprop=”addressLocality”>Malibu</span>,
<span itemprop=”addressRegion”>CA</span>
<span itemprop=”postalCode”>90263</span>
</div>
Phone: <span itemprop=”telephone”>(555) 423-2352</span>
<a href=”http://googlemapsurl.com” itemprop=”maps”>URL of Map</a>
</div>
Quentin
Tarantino
Things=
Relationships
Entity
URI: Uniform resource identifier
Quentin
Tarantino
Person
Things=
Relationships
RDF
Is a
Resource Description
Framework
Quentin
Tarantino
Film
Director
Person
Unglorious
Bastards
Things=
Relationships
Christoph
Waltz
Stanley
Kubrick
Germany
How does it work?
How does it work?
How does it work?
<div itemprop=”address” itemscope itemtype=”http://schema.org/City”>
<span itemprop=”name”>Paris</span>
<div itemscope itemtype=”http://schema.org/Hotel”>
<span itemprop=”name”>Hilton</span>
Why do we want/need it?
Why do we want/need it?
Semantic Search seeks to improve search accuracy by
understanding searcher intent and the contextual meaning of
terms as they appear in the searchable dataspace, whether on
the Web or within a closed system, to generate more relevant
results.
Their = They’re
Why do we want/need it?
Mobile and desktop
Search experience is different
Why do we want/need it?
Mobile and desktop
Search experience is different
Search Engines
Answer Engines
1. Kyle lives in Vancouver
2. Kyle knows John
3. John lives in Vancouver
Why do we want/need it?
Who does Kyle know who also lives in Vancouver?
When is this happening?
When is this happening?
Today
Google Hummingbird
When is this happening?
Rich Snippets
When is this happening?
Not Provided
When is this happening?
New markups
When is this happening?
When is this happening?
Structured Data
When is this happening?
Structured Data
When is this happening?
Google Voice Search
When is this happening?
Google Voice Search
When is this happening?
Google Voice Search
Where is this going?
Where is this going?
Where is this going?
Where is this going?
NO
Where is this going?
No Data Available
-Is Golden Gate Park bigger than Central Park?
-Yes
-Which way to Malcolm’s flat?
- Take the next left

Things not strings: Understanding Semantic Search