NLP & NLU as part of semantic search

Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Natural Language Understanding (NLU) are technologies that make search more intelligent by enabling users to find relevant information without typing the exact words found on a page or in a product. NLP processes natural language into a format that computers can understand, while NLU aims to "understand" what a block of natural language is communicating. These technologies help improve recall and precision in search results. Some common NLP techniques include text normalization, stemming, lemmatization, and handling plurals. NLU tasks like named entity recognition (NER) and intent detection can also enhance search quality by identifying key items within a text and determining the user's desired action. Overall, NLP and NLU play crucial roles in improving search experiences for users.