improve search results by boosting some parts

panikdb/emissions/search_indexes.py

+import datetime
+
 from haystack import indexes
 
 from .models import Emission, Episode, NewsItem
 
 
 class EmissionIndex(indexes.SearchIndex, indexes.Indexable):
+    title = indexes.CharField(model_attr='title', boost=1.5)
     text = indexes.CharField(document=True, use_template=True)
     categories = indexes.MultiValueField(faceted=True)
 
+    def prepare(self, obj):
+        data = super(EmissionIndex, self).prepare(obj)
+        data['boost'] = 1.3
+        return data
+
     def get_model(self):
         return Emission
 
@@ -15,6 +23,7 @@ class EmissionIndex(indexes.SearchIndex, indexes.Indexable):
 
 
 class EpisodeIndex(indexes.SearchIndex, indexes.Indexable):
+    title = indexes.CharField(model_attr='title', boost=1.5)
     text = indexes.CharField(document=True, use_template=True)
     tags = indexes.MultiValueField(faceted=True)
 
@@ -26,9 +35,21 @@ class EpisodeIndex(indexes.SearchIndex, indexes.Indexable):
 
 
 class NewsItemIndex(indexes.SearchIndex, indexes.Indexable):
+    title = indexes.CharField(model_attr='title', boost=1.5)
     text = indexes.CharField(document=True, use_template=True)
     tags = indexes.MultiValueField(faceted=True)
 
+    def prepare(self, obj):
+        data = super(NewsItemIndex, self).prepare(obj)
+        today = datetime.datetime.today()
+        if obj.datetime < today - datetime.timedelta(weeks=15):
+            # push older news in later pages
+            data['boost'] = 0.8
+        elif obj.datetime > today - datetime.timedelta(weeks=3):
+            # pull recent news
+            data['boost'] = 1.5
+        return data
+
     def get_model(self):
         return NewsItem