People have different methods of
finding content on a website. Some
scour HTML sitemaps, others scan
the home page, while still others
pound away at their keyboards
through the site search box. Site
search engines provide users with a
simple and convenient way to locate
products using the terms with which
they are most familiar. When users
can easily find what they want,
they are more likely to buy — and in
the end, that is what all Internet
retailers want.
Site Search Recommendations
When users conduct a search on a website,
they typically look for a text field
where they can enter their term(s).
According to Jacob Nielsen’s Web usability
tips, this search box (or field) should be no
less than 27 characters wide in order for
the text to be clearly visible and easy to
use. Another recommendation is to place
the search text field on the top of the page,
because users tend to search a website
according to the “F” pattern, (from top left
to the bottom right). Include a button clearly
labeled “Search” and not text such as
“Go” or “Submit,” as these expressions
tend to mislead website visitors.
Site Search Tools & Resources
There are a variety of site search tools and
resources available to Web professionals;
some come standard with existing content
management systems, others are standalone
scripts and some are robust solutions
with customization features galore. Which
is right for your enterprise?
Google Site Search is easy to plug in, and
the resulting user experience is so familiar
to end-users that it has fast become a
mainstay on many sites around the Web.
PIt also has the advantage of an additional
revenue stream for publishers through PPC
advertising. But there are many — some
would argue better — site search products
available, all aiming to take a bite out of
Google’s market share.
Yahoo! Vertical Lens is part of the new and
highly-touted Build Your Own Search Service
(BOSS) platform, and allows developers to
create site search engines that go beyond
Google’s plug-and-play offering. Among the
features are real-time indexing of proprietary
content, customized ranking (Vertical Lens
allows sites to fine-tune the algorithm to fit
their audience and user experience), and
structured search, supporting faceted refinement
of searches. For example, the Vertical
Lens offering can blend standard Web
results with proprietary content in a single
search display. Should Yahoo! refine the
offering to make it accessible to a greater
number of Web professionals, the power
of Vertical Lens could make it a viable
contender in the world of site search.
EveryZing’s ezSearch is a universal site
search solution that indexes and searches
multimedia content. Features of the hosted
software-as-a-service solution include full
customization of search results, multiple
content format and ingestion capabilities
(including crawling, feed-based and
stream-capture), time-stamping of
every word in the index, blended
results, faceted navigation
based on custom attributes
and keyword merchandising
capabilities. Ideal for Web
properties with lots of video,
EveryZing could well become
the standard in site search for
multimedia content.
Omniture’s SiteSearch is another
product that puts the world of
on-site search into the hands
of those in constant pursuit of
ensuring the right information
is presented to website visitors.
More importantly, it tracks the
experience for merchants on a
granular level. Users of Omniture
can promote top-performing products
and content in results using
pre-defined business rules and
analytics-based performance
metrics such as conversion,
revenue and page views,
resulting in a more dynamic
search experience while providing
merchants with detailed intelligence
on visitor behavior. For the
analytics-conscious Web professional,
there is no better site
search solution on the market.