# Hybrid Search -- Where Keywords Meet Vectors, Enabling Classifieds Discovery

DevFeed: [Hybrid Search -- Where Keywords Meet Vectors, Enabling Classifieds Discovery](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/hybrid-search-where-keywords-meet-vectors-enabling-classifieds-discovery-20387.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://tech.olx.com/hybrid-search-where-keywords-meet-vectors-enabling-classifieds-discovery-b7c383fe4fc4?source=rss----761b019b483f---4>)

Author: Inês Soveral

Published: 2025-09-09T15:01:44Z

Content type: article

Language: en

Sources: [OLX](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/olx.md>)

Topics: [AI search](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/ai-search.md>), [Query (disambiguation)](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/query.md>)

Tags: [article](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/article.md>), [classifieds](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/classifieds.md>), [discovery](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/discovery.md>), [hybrid-search](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/hybrid-search.md>), [retrieval](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/retrieval.md>), [search](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/search.md>), [search-engines](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/search-engines.md>), [vector-search](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/vector-search.md>)

## AI overview

OLX describes its transition from keyword matching to hybrid search, combining keyword and vector retrieval for classifieds discovery. The article explains the motivations, implementation challenges, solutions, and observed benefits, including improved handling of vague, misspelled, or differently phrased queries.

## Source excerpt

Hybrid Search -- Where Keywords Meet Vectors, Enabling Classifieds Discovery In the midst of a fast-paced technological revolution, where user expectations grow increasingly sophisticated, the quality of search in the classifieds space has never been more critical. In fact, users expect the search box to understand what they are looking for and produce relevant search results; if this is not the case, they will easily move on to any competitor who provides this experience. At OLX, our search system traditionally relied on keyword matching between user queries and ad titles and descriptions -- a straightforward but rigid approach. While functional, it often led to low recall or even zero results pages (ZRPs). To mitigate this, we gradually developed an extension chain logic -- which will be explained in detail in later sections -- to address specific edge cases and expand recall. Over time, however, this logic became increasingly complex and difficult to improve upon, calling for a disruptive solution to further evolve our search system. In this article, we share why and how we transitioned to Hybrid Search as a retrieval strategy for our double-sided marketplace. We walk through the key changes required to support semantic search, highlight the challenges we faced, and detail the solutions put in place to overcome them. Finally, we reflect on the tangible improvements and practical benefits observed after this shift. What is Hybrid Search and what value does it bring? Despite its lack of flexibility, keyword matching remains highly effective in e-commerce. It returns results that exactly match the user's query terms, offering clear traceability and helping users understand why specific ads appear. This is particularly useful when users know precisely what they're looking for, and when combined with structured filters, a feature of the OLX marketplace. However, keyword matching falls short when queries are vague, misspelled, or phrased differently from how sellers descri