Phrase slop is the number of other words permitted between words in query phrase. The lesser the distance between two terms the higher the score will be. Phrase slop specifies a maximum slop, or the number of positions that tokens need to be moved to get a match. The slop is zero by default, requiring exact matches. The allowable value is any integer greater than or equal to zero.
You can also fine-tune your phrase boosting, which gives relevancy weight to phrases where the entire query is found in a single field. Phrase boosting is usually based on the entire query typed by the user, but enabling Two Word Phrase Boosting will allow any two adjacent words in the phrase to be considered a partial phrase match and boost relevancy of that result.
Phrase Slop Example
Example search term: "1 gallon milk"
The following fields will match depending on the phrase slop setting:
- 1 Gallon Milk: Always matches.
- 1 Gallon Soy Milk: Phrase slop 1 or greater (allows for one word in between search term words).
- 1 Gallon Vanilla Soy Milk: Phrase slop 2 or greater (allows for up to two words in between search term words).
- 1 Gallon Orange Juice: Never matches ("milk" is not the field, so this field cannot match the search term).