Articles & Case Studies
Semantic Search vs Keywords for B2B Discovery
Semantic search retrieves companies with similar business meaning, while keyword matching looks for explicit terms. Combining them helps balance broad discovery with specific requirements.
· updated October 6, 2026
Two companies can provide the same service while describing it differently. One may offer “outsourced IT operations,” while another says “managed technology support.” A search restricted to one phrase can miss the other.
Semantic search uses numerical representations of text, called embeddings, to retrieve related meanings. Keyword and phrase search remain useful when the wording itself is part of the requirement.
What embeddings add to company search
A company description contains more context than an industry tag: what the business sells, who it serves, and how it delivers the service.
An embedding-based search compares those descriptions with your ideal customer profile. It can surface a business whose terminology differs from your query but whose activity is related.
Adjacent businesses often share vocabulary and context. Inspect the results to see whether the similarities correspond to your qualification criteria.
Precision and recall answer different questions
Precision asks what share of retrieved results are relevant. Recall asks what share of all relevant results were retrieved.
You can estimate precision by reviewing a sample. Recall is harder because it requires knowing, or credibly approximating, the full relevant set. A large result count alone establishes neither.
Broader semantic retrieval may find more candidates while introducing adjacent business types. An exact phrase requirement may remove noise while excluding companies that use different wording.
Use each method for the right part of the ICP
Describe the business activity and buyer in natural language. Use phrases for named products, certifications, or terminology that must appear in the indexed text. Apply geography and other structured constraints separately.
For example, search semantically for outpatient clinic software vendors, then investigate a named integration. Do not assume the integration is absent merely because it is missing from the homepage.
Write company copy that communicates the facts
The same principle helps your own website: explain the product, audience, and use case in concrete language. Include details that distinguish the offering from adjacent categories.
That helps readers and provides better material for semantic comparison. It is not a promise of higher Google rankings or a reason to abandon descriptive keywords.
Try a company search with one customer segment, then compare a semantic description with an exact-phrase query to understand what each retrieves.
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