Towards Better Seach Query Classification with Distribution-Diverse Multi-Expert Knowledge Distillation in JD Ads Search

In the dynamic landscape of online advertising, decoding user intent remains a pivotal challenge, particularly in the context of query classification. Swift classification models, exemplified by FastText, cater to the demand for real-time responses but encounter limitations in handling intricate queries. Conversely, accuracy-centric models like BERT introduce challenges associated with increased latency. This paper undertakes a nuanced exploration, navigating the delicate balance between efficiency and accuracy. It unveils FastText's latent potential as an 'online dictionary' for historical queries while harnessing the semantic robustness of BERT for novel and complex scenarios. The proposed Distribution-Diverse Multi-Expert (DDME) framework employs multiple teacher models trained from diverse data distributions. Through meticulous data categorization and enrichment, it elevates the classification performance across the query spectrum. Empirical results within the JD ads search system validate the superiority of our proposed approaches.