Posted in Site Search on July 23, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Symptom: Your users have no clue why certain items were returned
Ever get a search result set and not be sure if you’ve gotten what you were expecting? That can happen no matter how hard you work on your site’s data and metadata – but you can reduce the times it happens. You have to [...]
Posted in Site Search on July 22, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Your search engine makes non-relevant results appear at the top of your list
I went to one site looking for screw drivers. Guess what came up? Knives! Now I have thought about using a knife on a screw before – but it’s not usually my first choice. (BTW, just in case you haven’t tried that, don’t. [...]
Posted in Site Search on July 21, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Symptom: Your search engine makes the user guess at the right term — without feedback
Listen, I actually like playing the game 20 Questions. I find that I do that a lot with the Internet Search engines (Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, etc.) I really don’t mind. I think that’s because I realize that the universe of information [...]
Posted in Site Search on July 17, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Symptom: Your search engine gives the user different results when they enter plural and singular forms of the same word
There’s nothing worse than making a customer guess when they don’t have to. The other day I was looking for some information on repairing a leaky faucet. I went to Google and entered “faucet.” A wonderful [...]
Posted in Search & Discovery Strategy, Site Search, tagged LinkedIn, search, search & discovery on July 14, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
A Quick Start Guide
1. Identify Your site’s conversion points
You need to think about conversion points in two different ways here.
First, think of the ultimate site conversion for a website – in context of your company’s overall objectives.
Second, think of intermediate conversions needed to get people to your ulimate site conversion.
Third, think about how these intermediate [...]
Posted in Site Search, tagged search on July 13, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Symptom: Your Customer Service Reps tell you that people keep asking if you have a certain product…and you do!
By now you know that I am no handy man (btw, I did call the plumber to take care of the leaky faucet.) But my brother… now he IS a handyman. He knows his tools, his supplies… [...]
Posted in Site Search, tagged search on July 12, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Symptom: Your customers use Google to find things on your site faster than using your onsite search engine
Don’t get me wrong. It is g-r-e-a-t that people use Google to find your products and services. That means your SEO efforts are working. And, we all know that some people will use Google for everything no matter [...]
