Use Synonyms to connect the terms users search for with the terms used in your content. Synonyms can help recover missed matches without changing your source content first.
Prerequisite: Review the Get Started articles before using this article, especially the analytics workflow and the guidance on cookies and session interpretation.
When to Use Synonyms
Use Synonyms when users and content authors describe the same concept in different ways.
- Brand term vs. generic term mismatches.
- Acronym vs. expanded phrase mismatches.
- Regional or team-specific wording differences.
- High-frequency no-result terms that should map to existing content.
Don't use Synonyms for misspellings that are better handled by Spell Check.
How to Configure Synonyms
- Confirm that the affected fields are tokenized full-text fields.
- Choose one-way or multi-way mapping based on intent and the risk of over-expansion.
- Add a small initial set manually for priority terms, then expand in controlled batches.
- Use the upload format only after you've validated a pilot set in preview.
- Publish changes and track which term groups you added in each release cycle.
How to Validate Impact in Analytics
Validate synonym effectiveness with query and engagement checks:
- No Result Searches: Target terms should appear less often in no-result lists.
- Searches with No Click: Target terms should show improved engagement.
- Average Click Position: Relevant items should move closer to top clicks.
If synonym additions increase noise, narrow the mappings and separate ambiguous terms into smaller sets.
Review Schedule: Review this analysis on a regular cadence, such as weekly for active programs and monthly for stable programs. Keep a short change log with the date, owner, target query or feature, and expected outcome. Use the same scope and date ranges each cycle so you can connect metric changes to specific edits.
When to Ask Your Developer or Web Team
Escalate to your developer or web team when you need upload syntax, edge-case behavior, or deeper platform controls outside the marketer workflow. Use Synonyms as the detailed reference.