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Intent Handling

note

Intent handling is an enterprise feature available as part of Marqo Enterprise. Contact your Marqo account manager to enable this feature.

Intent handling means recognising what a shopper is looking for from the shape of their query and ranking accordingly.

Overview​

Different query types call for different results. Some common intent types:

  • Brand intent: "Nike shoes", "Samsung TV". The shopper wants that brand's products first.
  • Category intent: "running shoes", "laptops". The shopper is browsing and benefits from a diverse set across brands and price points.
  • Attribute intent: "red dress", "wireless headphones". Products matching the attribute should dominate.
  • Use-case intent: "gift for mom", "home office setup". The query describes a need rather than a product, so semantic understanding matters more than keyword matching.
  • Comparison intent: "iPhone vs Samsung", "best running shoes". The shopper wants a short list of strong, comparable options.

In Marqo, query understanding of this kind is part of LLM Based Ranking and Relevance. The ranking model is trained on your shoppers' interactions, so it learns which results convert for each kind of query without you defining intent patterns, classifiers, or per-intent weights. There is no intent configuration to manage.

If you need deterministic behaviour for a specific query, use merchandising controls on that query: pin, boost, bury, or exclude products directly.