I am unsure of the places that core uses the taxonomy_index.
However, I do know that its pretty useless unless you only care about node references to taxonomy terms.
The module taxonomy_entity_index exists to fix this problem for Drupal 7.
I would wager that since Entity API is in backdrop, you'd want this functionality.
GitHub Issue #:
103
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Worth mentioning as it was in zulip chat by @yorkshirepudding I just tested and the two work together without issue as long as you don't use the "Exclude comments from Content...
Search does not include comments
There is also Node Comments Search - this searches the node and all comments (default search is node and first page of comments) as part of the content search. Izzy's module above is a separate...
Search does not include comments
I have created a new module comment_search
Search does not include comments