Ordering of search results in the docs could be improved

When searching for "str" in the documentation, for example, the built-in str type shows up 44th in the list of results currently. This specific example (as well as a general notion that the search results are often not useful) was recently cited to me by a colleague as one reason that they choose to caution beginner students against using Python's docs compared to other alternatives, because the docs are "hard to navigate" and "hard to search." I disagree with that assessment on the whole, but I do think that improving the ordering of the search results would make the docs easier to use and navigate, particularly for folks just starting out with Python.

Sphinx has a mechanism for custom sorting of search results, so it should be possible to come up with some heuristics there that improve the ordering of the results. I'll put in a PR in a little while with one small step that I think is an improvement.

Linked PRs

• gh-138278

Review the linked PR gh-138278 and the Sphinx custom search-result sorting mechanism mentioned in the issue. Use the "str" search example as the initial check, and consider the work done when the resulting ordering is demonstrably more useful for documentation users.