The Query Alternatives tool in the Algolia Dashboard helps you understand how Algolia interprets a query, behind the scenes. It's especially useful for debugging, optimizing relevance, and confirming that linguistic features like synonyms or typo tolerance are working correctly.
The Query Alternatives panel shows all variations of a query that Algolia considers during a search. These alternatives include:
Synonyms that are applied automatically
Dictionaries entries such as custom stop words or word corrections
Typo-tolerant variants of the original search terms
Segmented phrases that are broken apart for analysis (e.g.,
"smartwatchband"→"smartwatch band")
You can use the Query Alternatives view to:
Verify that a synonym or dictionary entry is working
Debug relevance issues for queries that aren’t behaving as expected
Understand how a complex or compound query is parsed
See how typo tolerance is applied to each term
Verify if a query word is being treated as optional
You can access the Query Alternatives view by:
Going to the Search page in your Algolia Dashboard
Locate the Query Alternatives toggle
Switch it on to reveal the full list of interpreted query variations
This view can help you spot subtle issues in your query rules, synonyms, or indexing logic that may not be obvious from the raw query alone.