Fresh Results Bias Weight sets how strongly the Fresh switch on your hosted search page lifts newer pages. The switch belongs to the visitor: this setting does nothing until someone turns Fresh on for a search.
With Fresh on, newer pages rank higher and older ones are not hidden, only lower. Pages without a publication date are left out of that search. More on the switch: Fresh results.
What the weight means
The weight decides how fast a page loses its freshness lift. Under the slider, the panel shows the time after which a page keeps half of it:
| Weight | Half the lift is gone after |
|---|---|
| 0.0 | 365 days |
| 0.3 | 41 days |
| 0.5, the default | 9.6 days |
| 0.7 | 2.2 days |
| 1.0 | 6 hours |
Near Subtle, the date only breaks ties between pages that match equally well. Near Newest first, the date all but replaces relevance, so the newest matching page wins almost regardless of how well it matches.
Change it
- Open Search Tuning in the settings of your index.
- Drag the Fresh Results Bias Weight slider from Subtle (0.0) to Newest first (1.0), in steps of 0.1. It is saved as you move.
- To go back to 0.5, click Reset next to the slider.