Hybrid Search: Keyword + Vector

Each has a weakness

Vector search nails meaning but can miss exact terms (product codes, names). Keyword search nails exact terms but misses paraphrases. Hybrid search runs both and merges results.

Merging results

A common method is Reciprocal Rank Fusion (RRF): score each document by its rank in both lists and combine. Many vector databases (Weaviate, Qdrant) support hybrid search out of the box.

When it helps

Hybrid shines on technical corpora with lots of identifiers and jargon. If pure vector recall is disappointing, adding keyword signal is often the fix.