Phase 14 · Retrieval-Augmented Generation & Vector Databases

Topics

Hybrid Search (Keyword + Vector)

Part of the AI Engineer Roadmap.

Summary

Combining traditional keyword search (BM25) with vector similarity search — often outperforms either method alone, especially for queries with exact terms like product codes or names.

How to Learn This

  • 1Implement hybrid search combining BM25 and vector similarity scores.
  • 2Test on queries where keyword search wins (exact terms) vs. where semantic search wins (paraphrased queries).
  • 3Learn common score-fusion techniques (e.g. reciprocal rank fusion).
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