Glossary · Answer engines and retrieval
dense retrieval
The semantic half of hybrid search: a query and each candidate passage are turned into vectors by an embedding model and matched by similarity, so a paraphrase can be found. Embedding names the vector; dense retrieval names the search step those vectors exist for. It misses exact strings that BM25 finds, it inherits every bias of the model that made the vectors, and a passage that was chunked badly is a bad vector however well it was written.
Terms this definition uses
Hybrid search · embedding · retrieval · BM25
Answer engines and retrieval
How a generated answer gets made, and what your page is competing for inside it.
AEO · GEO · AI visibility score · share of voice · prompt set · brand mention · RAG · grounding · training data · embedding · chunking · context window · token · hallucination · refusal · AI Overview · answer engine · citation · retrieval · hallucinated attribution · Hybrid search · Re-ranking · Passage ranking · Query fan-out · Chunk boundary · BM25 · cross-encoder · AI Mode · information gain
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