11. Don’t let your site search stink
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Fiachra Ó Marcaigh, Director, AMAS
Research tells us that more than half of website users are “search-dominant”. They will search a website rather than using the navigation to find what they want.
As we all know, the results of on-site search are often terrible, more annoying than useful. Typical problems are:
- Slow responses to queries
- Cluttered results listing
- Results not sorted by relevance
- Results not sorted by any useful logic
- Not all content covered by search
There are many, many more problems. Far too often, site search stinks. It is not just that on-site search falls far short of the high expectations we have for commercial web search. Site search quality is often very bad in its own right.
If you suspect that this applies to the search on your site, what can you do?
First, there is no magic bullet. As for so many aspects of using online channels effectively, getting good search in place on your site is a matter of doing many small things well. And getting the basics right, of course. (See list below)
The return on investment in better search can be substantial. On your website, it can mean more satisfied and more loyal clients. On an intranet, it can make or break the usability. One study found a 43% difference in employee productivity between intranets with high and low usability.
So, look again at your on-site search.
Site search is on element included in the AMAS eBusiness Audit. For more on the audit, see www.amas.ie.
This list is far from comprehensive, but it’s a good start:
1. Make sure your search software is fit for the job. (Remember silk purses and sow’s ears.)
2. Give your content good metadata – titles and descriptions in particular
3. Test and tweak the indexing and searching rules
4. Examine the results page to ensure it is clear and intuitive
5. Learn about search usability and work continually to improve your site search
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