Anatomy of Search: How Elasticsearch Thinks, Analyzes, and Scores

Anatomy of Search: How Elasticsearch Thinks, Analyzes, and Scores

Overview From analysis to relevance scoring, we’ll break down how search actually works under the hood. Our focus will be on the core principles of lexical search, why it remains essential even in the age of AI, and the practical techniques for building high-quality search experiences. You’ll learn how queries are analyzed, matched, scored, and tuned to deliver strong precision, balanced recall, and an exceptional user experience. Learning Goals By the end of this session, attendees will be able to: -Explain what makes search effective and why lexical search still matters -Understand how queries flow through Elasticsearch’s analysis and scoring pipeline -Configure and experiment with analyzers, token filters, and indexing strategies -Apply relevance tuning techniques to improve precision and recall -Build strong search experiences using heuristics