Modernizing Our Search Stack

Modernizing Our Search Stack

摘要

Neighbors all over the world turn to Nextdoor and look for local information through explicit queries in the search bar.

Neighbors use the search bar to connect with other neighbors, find business recommendations, information about local non-profits, and find out what is happening around them.

Sometimes the intent of our users is very clear. When neighbors search for “plumber recommendations” we know they want to find out what experiences neighbors have had with plumbing companies nearby.

However, when neighbors search for “home decor,” neighbors may think about hiring a company that specializes in home decor or they may be looking for ideas about home decoration.

Along the same lines, when someone searches for “barbecue” they could be looking to buy a barbecue grill from the neighbors, or they could be trying to find a nearby restaurant that serves barbecue.

We use these examples to portray the complexity of the intent our neighbors express. The Nextdoor Search Team is a small team that tackles serving neighbors with local and accurate search results. This work is at the intersection of Information Retrieval, Machine Learning, building scalable infrastructure, and classical software engineering.