What it means
Keyword search finds content that contains the words in a query, often with techniques that account for word forms and how important a word is. It is the traditional search behind most websites, catalogues and document systems.
Real-world example
A planning office employee searches for the case number "BV-2024-0815" to find all documents about a specific building permit. Keyword search finds the exact matches immediately, whereas a purely semantic search might return documents about similar building permits instead.
Why it matters for AI adoption
Keyword search is predictable, explainable and very good for exact terms, names and identifiers. It remains essential in AI-supported systems, and combining it with semantic search usually gives better results than either approach alone.
Often confused with
Keyword search matches words; semantic search matches meaning. They are complementary rather than old versus new.
Questions to ask
- Can users still find documents by exact identifiers, names and phrases?
- Is our current search infrastructure reused, or replaced?