Algolia glossary

Terms used at Algolia and their definitions.

API Client

A program that provides an abstraction over the raw Algolia API, hiding implementation details to make development for Subscribers easier in the language of their choice.

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API key

A string with alphanumeric characters used to control access to Algolia’s API, determining what is allowed to do, such as searching an Index, or adding new Records.

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Affinity

A Facet-Value pair that reflects End-User’s preferences.

Algolia AI

Certain Algolia Services with an ability to train or adapt via use, such as NeuralSearch, Dynamic Re-Ranking, AI Synonyms, Query Categorization, Advanced Personalization and Recommend features: Frequently Bought Together, Alternative Items, Looking Similar, Content Based Alternative Items, and otherwise identified by Algolia.

Application

A siloed set of indices. Data cannot be shared between applications.

Application ID

A string with alphanumeric characters as a unique identifier for Algolia applications.

Application Programming Interface (API)

A software intermediary that allows pieces of software to interact with each other. The Algolia API describes how the Subscribers’ systems can interact with Algolia Services.

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Click-through rate (CTR)

The percentage of tracked searches with at least one click Event. A tracked search is a search with the clickAnalytics parameter set to true.

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Conversion rate

The percentage of tracked searches with at least one conversion Event. A tracked search is a search with the clickAnalytics parameter set to true.

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Dashboard

The Subscriber’s administrator interface to Algolia Services. The Dashboard is hosted by Algolia.

Event

An action performed by a User on Subscriber’s app or website.

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Facet

A specific characteristic for describing index items, such as color or brand.

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Facet-Value pair

A pair made of a Facet name and a value. For example, if “priority” and “quality” are two Facets, “priority:high” and “quality:high” are two Facet-Value pairs.

Filter

A Facet-Value pair used to select results with a specific facet value for a given facet name.

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Generative Experiences

Certain Algolia Services that leverage generative artificial intelligence, such as Ask AI, Agent Studio, certain features of AI Assist, and Generative Experience Guides.

Index

A container for a set of Records that can be searched together.

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Insights API

Algolia’s API designed to ingest Events from Subscriber’s apps and websites.

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InstantSearch

A collection of open source software libraries that let Subscribers build Algolia search interfaces for their frontend application. The InstantSearch libraries are built on top of API Clients.

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Library

A collection of reusable software, designed to help developers solve common problems. A library is often targeted to be used with a specific software platform or operating system.

Primary Serving Region

Region selected by Subscriber and used by Algolia as the primary region for Search query processing.

Profile

Designates a set of information about a single End-User, including their Affinities based on enriched Events and audience segment to which the End-User belongs.

Record

Subscriber items stored in an Algolia Index for retrieval.

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Search Request

A group of one or more search queries sent in a single HTTP request.

Search query

A sequence of characters typed into a search box, or specific filters or facets applied to a search.

Subscriber

A customer of Algolia Services, such as Search or Recommend.

User

Customers or end-users of Algolia Subscribers who interact with Algolia Services, such as Search and Recommend.

User token

A unique string of alphanumeric characters that uniquely identifies a User throughout applications. A user token must contain only alphanumeric, =, -, /, or _ characters and be between 1 and 128 characters in length.

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