# Index time boosting Vs Query time boosting **URL:** \ **Category:** Elasticsearch\ **Created:** [October 15, 2013, 1:19am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/index-time-boosting-vs-query-time-boosting/13951 "2013-10-15T01:19:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Karan\_Verma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/858c86/32.png) [@Karan\_Verma](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Karan_Verma)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2013, 1:19am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/index-time-boosting-vs-query-time-boosting/13951/1 "2013-10-15T01:19:17Z")
Hi Which scenarios would support index time boosting over query time boosting and vice-versa. How does one score over an other and what to keep in mind while making a decision about one approach? Karan -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "elasticsearch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com). For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/groups/opt\_out](https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out). ---
**Author:** ![javanna](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/javanna/32/4698_2.png) [@javanna](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/javanna)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2013, 4:44pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/index-time-boosting-vs-query-time-boosting/13951/2 "2013-10-15T16:44:33Z")
I would personally say use query time boosting all the time. Using index time boosting you need to reindex to change the boosting behaviour. What is your usecase? On Tuesday, October 15, 2013 3:19:17 AM UTC+2, Karan Verma wrote: > Hi > > Which scenarios would support index time boosting over query time > boosting and vice-versa. How does one score over an other and what to keep > in mind while making a decision about one approach? > > Karan -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "elasticsearch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com). For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/groups/opt\_out](https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out). ---
**Author:** ![Karan\_Verma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/858c86/32.png) [@Karan\_Verma](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Karan_Verma)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2013, 10:24pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/index-time-boosting-vs-query-time-boosting/13951/3 "2013-10-15T22:24:58Z")
Thanks for your answer Luca. I am doing a full text search on a name of the person, city, state, and specialty. Query time boosting sounds convenient but I wanted to understand why we have index time boosting and is it faster or higher performance to use it. Also would be an overkill if I boost results booth during Index time and query time. Are there any usecases for doing both? On Tue, Oct 15, 2013 at 9:44 AM, Luca Cavanna [cavannaluca@gmail.com](mailto:cavannaluca@gmail.com) wrote: > I would personally say use query time boosting all the time. Using index > time boosting you need to reindex to change the boosting behaviour. > What is your usecase? > > On Tuesday, October 15, 2013 3:19:17 AM UTC+2, Karan Verma wrote: > > > Hi > > > > Which scenarios would support index time boosting over query time > > boosting and vice-versa. How does one score over an other and what to keep > > in mind while making a decision about one approach? > > > > Karan > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the > Google Groups "elasticsearch" group. > To unsubscribe from this topic, visit > [https://groups.google.com/d/topic/elasticsearch/n0n65sNKJEc/unsubscribe](https://groups.google.com/d/topic/elasticsearch/n0n65sNKJEc/unsubscribe). > To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to > [elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com). > For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/groups/opt\_out](https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out). -- Best, Karan Life saving Ninja & Software Engineer Karan pronounced Ka ([http://tiny.cc/0lu61w](http://tiny.cc/0lu61w)) + Run -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "elasticsearch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com). For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/groups/opt\_out](https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out). ---
**Author:** ![jprante](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/jprante/32/44941_2.png) [@jprante](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/jprante)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2013, 12:36am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/index-time-boosting-vs-query-time-boosting/13951/4 "2013-10-16T00:36:04Z")
It is not overkill, and there are of course use cases. The boost factor at index time sets a document related boost. That is, a factor depending on the nature of the document is being set in the relevance scoring formula. Example: the number of links pointing to this document (also known as popularity or authority ranking in web search). Such a boost factor is also called "static boost" since it does not change from query to query. If static boost must change, the whole document must be reindexed. The boost factor given at query time is query term related. That is, a factor depending on a term in the query is being set in the relevance scoring formula. Example: hits on docs with a certain term should be ranked higher than hits on docs with other terms in the query. Such a boost factor is called "dynamic boost" because it can change from query to query. There is no need to reindex docs. There is no difference in performance since the standard scoring algorithm always takes both static and dynamic boost factors into account. Jörg -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "elasticsearch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com). For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/groups/opt\_out](https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out). ---
**Author:** ![Karan\_Verma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/858c86/32.png) [@Karan\_Verma](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Karan_Verma)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2013, 12:44am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/index-time-boosting-vs-query-time-boosting/13951/5 "2013-10-16T00:44:10Z")
I see. Thanks Jörg. On Tue, Oct 15, 2013 at 5:36 PM, [joergprante@gmail.com](mailto:joergprante@gmail.com) \< [joergprante@gmail.com](mailto:joergprante@gmail.com)\> wrote: > It is not overkill, and there are of course use cases. > > The boost factor at index time sets a document related boost. That is, a > factor depending on the nature of the document is being set in the > relevance scoring formula. Example: the number of links pointing to this > document (also known as popularity or authority ranking in web search). > Such a boost factor is also called "static boost" since it does not change > from query to query. If static boost must change, the whole document must > be reindexed. > > The boost factor given at query time is query term related. That is, a > factor depending on a term in the query is being set in the relevance > scoring formula. Example: hits on docs with a certain term should be ranked > higher than hits on docs with other terms in the query. Such a boost factor > is called "dynamic boost" because it can change from query to query. There > is no need to reindex docs. > > There is no difference in performance since the standard scoring algorithm > always takes both static and dynamic boost factors into account. > > Jörg > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the > Google Groups "elasticsearch" group. > To unsubscribe from this topic, visit > [https://groups.google.com/d/topic/elasticsearch/n0n65sNKJEc/unsubscribe](https://groups.google.com/d/topic/elasticsearch/n0n65sNKJEc/unsubscribe). > To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to > [elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com). > For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/groups/opt\_out](https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out). -- Best, Karan Life saving Ninja & Software Engineer Karan pronounced Ka ([http://tiny.cc/0lu61w](http://tiny.cc/0lu61w)) + Run -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "elasticsearch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com). For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/groups/opt\_out](https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out). ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2017, 2:12am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/index-time-boosting-vs-query-time-boosting/13951/6 "2017-07-06T02:12:18Z")