When it comes to online search engines, users type in keywords with the hopes of finding what they’re looking for as quickly and easily as possible. But sometimes, the searcher’s intent is unclear – especially when multiple meanings or interpretations of a word or phrase exist. This is known as an ambiguous intent search.
For example, if someone searches for the word “apple,” are they looking for information about the fruit, the tech company, or something else entirely? In cases like this, the search engine must make an educated guess about what the user is really looking for and deliver results accordingly.
Of course, this isn’t always foolproof and sometimes users don’t get the results they were hoping for.