What is Truncation?
Truncation is the process of shortening text by removing characters, tokens, or fields after a limit. In search and NLP, it prevents overly long queries or documents from slowing indexing and ranking.
How It Works (quick)
- Query truncation: Limit tokens (e.g., first 50 terms).
- Document truncation: Limit indexed fields for performance.
- Vector models: Cap sequence length (e.g., 512 tokens).
- UI truncation: Shorten displayed snippets with ellipses.
Why It Matters in E-commerce
- Performance: Prevents slowdowns from very long queries.
- Clarity: Keeps snippets readable in SERPs.
- Safety: Avoids abuse via “injection” queries.
Best Practices
- Set reasonable limits per field (title vs description).
- Log truncated queries for review.
- Provide “read more” for truncated text in UI.
- Test truncation lengths for SEO snippets (meta descriptions).
Summary
Truncation keeps systems fast and clean by cutting overly long text. Done well, it balances performance with readability.
