Plan for Successful Site Search

Site search is an extremely important utility to include on information-dense web sites as well as experiences that are destinations for users with information-seeking agendas. Careful planning, as always, is required to make site search simple and useful. Unfortunately, it is often treated as an after-thought on web design projects.

1. Identify the most frequently searched terms - There are two ways to identify likely search queries on a web site. If the web site has not yet launched, seek the aid of the Google keyword tool to uncover frequently searched terms related to the topic or actual content on the web site. If the web site has launched, then take a look at the most commonly searched keywords in a typical 3 month period. This assessment will identify the highest priority searches to accommodate with the search tool as well as provide insight into the type of content which is most difficult to find on the current site.

2. Design search results templates based on "types of searches" - Having identified the most common search terms, create a spreadsheet that maps these terms to a "search type." For example, common search terms may include "phone," "contact," or "email." It is safe to assume, for these types of searches, users are looking for contact information. Create a search results template that elevates all contact information as a highlighted result or "direct hit" when triggered by a "contact-type" search query. Another example of a type of search could be a job-seeking search via keywords such as "jobs" or "careers." Create a unique search results template that elevates the latest job openings, links to submit resumes, as well as a means to inquire about available positions. Develop special design patterns and results templates for the most frequent "types of searches" only.

3. Develop a metadata specification - Metadata is information that describes a piece of content. This information can be displayed, or not, within the user experience. When planning for search, the first consideration is to identify what content attributes will be indexed and considered when returning search results. This planning is important for two reasons. It enables the Information Architect to understand how to prioritize search results that are returned, as well as how to display them on the page. An additional consideration when planning a metadata specification is to establish content relationships. Linking types of content, such as television shows and individual episodes, will enable both to be returned when a user searches for the title of a specific television show.

4. Consider predictive search functionality - Careful planning (steps 1-3) will enable the Information Architect to understand how to trigger and display a predictive search layer that is triggered automatically as users type into the search textfield. It is vital to have already identified the most likely searches and search types, prior to planning predictive search.

5. Aggregate and incorporate ways for users to access all relevant multimedia content from search results - Some web sites contain multiple content types related to a given topic. The topic "fishing," for instance, may return videos, images, and article-based content when a search is performed. A key aspect of planning and designing search results is to identify all types of content related to a given topic. It is important to describe these content relationships in the metadata specification. Providing users an easy way to access or narrow results by type of content is important when creating a best-of-breed site search.