Cheat at Search Essentials: Embedding Retrieval

Hosted by Doug Turnbull

Tue, May 12, 2026

4:00 PM UTC (1 hour)

Virtual (Zoom)

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Cheat at Search with Agents
Doug Turnbull
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What you'll learn

Learn how embeddings implement 'semantic search'

What is a 'vector embedding' and why do they capture meaning? And how can that be used to build a search system?

Tackle the practical realities vector retrieval

Why do we need a vector database? And why are they different from traditional search engines? Should they be different?

How are vector + lexical techniques combined?

Offer a concrete and concise explanation of how you will help students understand and apply this lesson.

Why this topic matters

For decades, search techniques were dominated by lexical search. IE some form of 'dumb token matching'. Yet in the last decade, embedding based retrieval has completely upended that paradigm, giving us results focused on semantic search before strings.

You'll learn from

Doug Turnbull

Led search teams at Reddit, Shopify, Wikipedia, and more

In 2012, Doug got bit by the search bug and he's still trying to keep up. From full-text search, to Learning to Rank models, to search agents that generate their own code, he knows the endless landscape first hand. Yet Doug wants to deeply understand the what / how / why, and help teams use these technologies practically, distinguishing hype from reality.

He’s led search at Reddit, Shopify, and Wikipedia, authored Relevant Search and AI Powered Search, and advised 100+ organizations over the years - all in pursuit of the same question: how does search actually work?

Worked with

Reddit
Shopify.com
Wikimedia Foundation
LexisNexis
Wayfair

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