No one
comes to your site just to test the search. Someone using your search
function is looking to do something, or get information that they think
exists on your site, but they cannot intuitively find in your
navigation. According to a Jupiter Research Report:

• 33% of customers look first to site search instead of navigation, and
  
• 50% will turn to site search if the navigation and qualification schemes do not help them find what they are looking for.

Bottom
line: Having a site search that works well is important in helping up
to 50% of your users complete their online task(s).

Below, there are 3 steps that will help you:

1. Retrieve the keywords users enter on your site
   
2. Determine your current site search effectiveness
   
3. Fix your site search if the results that come up aren't what you expected

Step 1: Identify Users’ Search Terms

What keywords are users typing in on your site to complete their task?

It is
quite insightful to see what your web site users are searching for on
your site. While you may assume certain areas of your site are
"no-brainers" and easily located, many of your web site visitors may
not share in your sentiment.

Uncovering
the sections of your site that users have difficulty finding can help
you in the decision making process when it comes to site labeling, and
usability.

Using
either your site search tool or a web analytics tool, find the keywords
that your web site visitors type into your search box. This may require
a little prying of your IT staff, but the headache will be worth it,
and if done correctly is a one-time request.

A
recommendation: Analysis of your local keyword searches is best
performed in a web analytics program because you can analyze user
behavior after the search. (For example: How many users submit a lead,
view a product, buy an item, e-mail customer support, etc., after
search?)

Step 2: Take a Step in Your Users’ Shoes

Now that
you know the terms users are typing into your search box, take the top
5 terms and enter them into your search yourself. Are the answers
accurate and easy to locate?

Think of
it this way: do the results returned for those keywords typed in your
search box help your users complete their tasks, or are the results
unrelated to their query altogether?

If your
answer is yes, search results are accurate, then stop reading here.
Congratulate yourself--you’re fine. Keep an eye on your search terms
every few months (and especially after redesigns).

If your answer is no, then let’s get you on the right track to fixing this problem. Read step 3 below.

Step 3: If It’s Broke, Fix it

The
techniques used to optimize your site for Google, MSN, and other search
engines should assist your internal search tremendously (check
marketingprofs articles for help with search engine optimization). For
starters include the keyword in your page title and meta tags.

Some
robust site search tools even allow you to alter your site’s search
results in a more direct way; they may allow you to manipulate search
results by placing selected pages as the first result for certain
keyword searches.

For most
marketers though, you will have to optimize certain pages within your
own sites to get them well ranked in your site search.

Does it
seem simple? This is not a painful process. But the most difficult part
is getting access to the terms that web site visitors type into your
search box. The benefits of analyzing local search keywords far
outweigh the difficulty in attaining the information.

Finally, Analyze the Results

Every
month or so, check out your top 5 most queried terms, type them into
your search, and if the right results are within the top 10 results you
should be ok. If not, continue to check the search every so often and
make tweaks to the important pages to get them highly ranked.


Tags: search, site-search,


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