XenForo Enhanced Search lets you make newer posts show up higher when people search your forum. This feature, called recency-weighted relevance, automatically boosts fresh content. You pick a "half-life" number that tells the system how fast posts should lose their freshness value. For example, with a 365-day half-life, a year-old post ranks half as high as an identical brand-new one.
The system uses special math behind the scenes to calculate each post's freshness score. When you turn on this feature, it works right away with your current search index - no need to rebuild anything. Every search after you save the setting will start using your chosen freshness rules. Both regular searches and "More Like This" results follow these rules.
Picking the right half-life depends on your community. As a starting point, a full year works well for many forums. Forums about fast-changing topics might need shorter periods, like 30 or 60 days. Reference-focused communities might extend this to two years or more. Remember that keywords and other factors still matter a lot—freshness just tips the scale slightly.
You should try different settings to see what works best. Track how members react to search results after changes. Pay attention to whether older but valuable content gets buried. Some forums might want to leave this feature off entirely if timeless content matters most. The perfect balance between new and relevant depends on what your community values and how they use your forum.
The system uses special math behind the scenes to calculate each post's freshness score. When you turn on this feature, it works right away with your current search index - no need to rebuild anything. Every search after you save the setting will start using your chosen freshness rules. Both regular searches and "More Like This" results follow these rules.
Picking the right half-life depends on your community. As a starting point, a full year works well for many forums. Forums about fast-changing topics might need shorter periods, like 30 or 60 days. Reference-focused communities might extend this to two years or more. Remember that keywords and other factors still matter a lot—freshness just tips the scale slightly.
You should try different settings to see what works best. Track how members react to search results after changes. Pay attention to whether older but valuable content gets buried. Some forums might want to leave this feature off entirely if timeless content matters most. The perfect balance between new and relevant depends on what your community values and how they use your forum.
