Use of "Underscore" within the Knowledge Form Meta field

[kevin_j]

1. Does using the underscore character ( _ )   make a difference when entering search terms in the Meta field on the knowledge form?

For example does:     reset_SAP_password         provide a different search relevancy score as compared to simply entering the terms without an underscore:       reset   SAP   password.

2.   Is there any documentation that discusses this?     I searched, but was unable to find any written references.

[Mwatkins]

Hi Kevin,

Search terms in the Meta field in the Knowledge base get treated like all other text fields by the Zing search engine. The underbar "underscore" character (with a few special cases for known patterns) gets stripped out and effectively treated like a space.

See

Zing indexes punctuation as part of some words

Zing indexes words

[lellis]

Then what's the deal with all the underscored phrases in this  SN doc on using meta to improve SEO? 

[Michael QCKM]

I'd also very much like to know the answer to this as I've seen this referenced MANY different ways.

Something to consider in addition:

• If in fact underscores work in Meta, how come they do not work in - Featured Content (pinning) in a Knowledge Base?
• • There only seems to be a single word usable in pinning which is VERY limiting. How many times is a user going to use 1 word to trigger a "Best Bet" article?
• If they do NOT work in Meta, there is still the issue of multi-word strings in Featured Content (pinning) in a Knowledge Base

[Mwatkins]

Hi @lellis, check in the replies section of the article that you mentioned, there is an answer to your question. See the comment by @mpaquette@intelerad.com. It explains that "About the only purpose [underbars] serve is to make it easier for people to read multi-word terms", then he goes into detail about some of the finer points of how Zing treats underbars. HTH!