Marginalia Search now properly supports phrase matching, allowing for more accurate search results when terms appear in the exact order as the query. This implementation represents 4 months of work, with funding from nlnet after the grant ended. Previously, search queries were stored in an approximate format, leading to issues with quoted queries. By switching to storing compressed lists of position data using varints, efficiency improved significantly. The new approach allows for increased precision in identifying matches, especially in code blocks. Additional ranking factors were introduced, improving the relevance of search results. Overall, the changes have led to better search engine performance and more accurate results.
https://www.marginalia.nu/log/a_111_phrase_matching/