Semantic Search provides results based on semantic meaning among searched entities. Semantic search is distinguished from lexical search, which returns results based on literal matching of query words and related results. Within search engines, integration of perceived searcher intent into results is an example of attempting to integrate semantic meaning into search results.
Diffbot’s Knowledge Graph™ is the world’s largest publicly available semantic search, allowing users to search and facet contextual entities along hundreds of criteria. The key difference between historical lexical search and modern semantic search is that semantic search returns entities that are contextually aware, while lexical search returns unlinked documents. The embedded relationships between entities in semantic search results allows users to see patterns between results and traverse data along an established hierarchy.
See also facet, data enrichment.