Change site search to relationship powered search on 600,000 record index site.

Client has a site with over 600,000 businesses listed. Data compiled by a data expert, who has suggested instead of the way the search works at present, to do do it as a relationship database. The job here is to 1) Justify if the logic of doing this is good or bad 2) If good, bid for a timeline to do do the work, and a price. 3) If the logic is not good or its not possible, then recommend a different solution to get us the same kind of result- ie improved site search for the index directory. Site is built using 68classifieds. ## Deliverables The client is recommended we move from the standard site search system installed in 68classifieds - developers site adn details at <[login to view URL]> For the uninitiated (I hope I am not teaching everyone to suck eggs), it works by compiling indexes. There is an index for each searchable field, holding the database number of each record against the relevant search term in that field. EG Town Bury St Edmunds is connected to records 3, 97, 560, 100472, etc. Haidressing is connected to records 3, 39, 106983, 300817, etc Thus a search for hairdressers in Bury St Edmunds would look at the index for the subject hairdressing and the index for towns. It would identify the record numbers held in common, and present them as the result of the search. In the fictitious example above, the search would retrieve record 3. All indexes need to be re-compiled every time data is updated. To make it quicker and more effective, the search terms would not be held in text form but coded. Thus Bury St Edmunds as a town has a unique code (eg 301), and the index would be held as 301 = records 3, 97, 560, 100472, etc. Ditto hairdressing as a subject. You still get to record 3, but more quickly. So there are a number of indexes, supported by a number of tables which hold the codes and their translation. This could all be automated, or I could create the relevant tables. It shouldn't take me an enormous amount of time And you could remove errors/duplicates I have spotted at the same time.