How Our Hybrid Search Finds Your Dream Property
PlaceBuy combines traditional keyword search with AI semantic understanding to deliver the most relevant property matches.
Posted by
Bart ZalewskiRelated reading
AI-Powered Neighborhood Insights
Discover how PlaceBuy provides comprehensive neighborhood data including crime rates, school ratings, and market trends.
AI-Powered Property Descriptions in 20+ Languages
Discover how PlaceBuy uses GPT-4 to generate compelling property listings in over 20 languages, saving sellers hours of work.
Traditional Search vs. Semantic Search
Most real estate platforms use simple keyword matching. Search for "modern apartment downtown" and you'll only see listings that contain those exact words.
But what if a listing describes itself as a "contemporary flat in the city center"? You'd miss it entirely, even though it's exactly what you're looking for.
The PlaceBuy Solution: Hybrid Search
We combine two powerful technologies:
- Elasticsearch for traditional text matching with fuzzy search
- Qdrant vector database for semantic understanding
Our hybrid algorithm weighs text matches at 60% and semantic similarity at 40%, then re-ranks results based on your preferences.
Personalized Ranking
PlaceBuy learns from your behavior to show you the most relevant properties:
- Location preferences - Properties closer to your saved locations get boosted
- Property type affinity - If you browse mostly apartments, we'll prioritize them
- Budget alignment - Listings within your price range rank higher
- View history - Similar properties to ones you've viewed get a relevance boost
Search Like a Human
Try these natural language queries:
- "Pet-friendly house with a garden near good schools"
- "Affordable studio for a young professional in Barcelona"
- "Luxury villa with ocean views and private pool"
- "Investment property with high rental yield"
Our AI understands context, synonyms, and intent - just like a human real estate agent would.