Hybrid search
Running lexical search (BM25 or similar) and dense vector search together at the retrieval step, then merging the results.
What Hybrid search means
It exists because pure semantic search misses exact strings — part numbers, model names, a company name that looks like an ordinary word.
Terms this definition uses
BM25 · Dense vector · retrieval · Semantic search
Definitions that name Hybrid search
Related terms in 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 · Re-ranking · Passage ranking · Query fan-out · Chunk boundary · BM25 · cross-encoder · AI Mode · information gain · dense retrieval
Questions about Hybrid search
What is Hybrid search?
Running lexical search (BM25 or similar) and dense vector search together at the retrieval step, then merging the results.
Which area of the glossary does Hybrid search belong to?
Answer engines and retrieval: How a generated answer gets made, and what your page is competing for inside it.
← hallucinated attribution · Re-ranking →
See it in the full glossary · 772 terms across 19 areas.
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