The Search Box on Your Site is Important

Search boxes are quite a common site on websites today days, and while this is a good thing, there is a problem in that many simply do not work the way they should. Search boxes are all a part of the new art of "Searchandising" and is an area that is getting an increasing amount of attention from the big names on the web.

Consider what the Search Box Really is to Your Visitors.

So what is the Search box?, is it merely a box in which people can type things in, in an attempt to find what they are looking for, or what? In my view it is far more than that, it is in fact a gateway to a site and just how well it does it's job can make the difference between a sale and potential customer leaving empty handed.

In The Real World its Different

In the real world, and in the good old days of customer service, there was often a well staffed customer service desk in many large stores. Here you could find out just about anything you wanted to know, and especially whether the item you wanted is available and where it was. Now imagine if the people working on this desk were not very good, just think of the impact that this would have on any potential customer. In the real world they would just up and leave, and perhaps that is just what happens on the web too..

So what happens on a site with a badly configured Search facility?

A badly configured search system is a system that either does not "understand" what is being asked for, or (or as well as) then displays the results in a manner that is not clear or easy to use. One of the ways you can ensure that the search box acts as if it understands is to use a system that uses something called "
Natural Language Processing ". This system is used by Search Engines like Ask, and is really quite intelligent, in that it can break down the words typed in and decode their meaning just like a human does.

Thus if someone types in something like "Do you sell ruber ducs" it will use its rule set to work out that the person wants to buy rubber ducks. However, getting the Search box to understand what is required is just the first step, for then you must ensure that the system searches the right areas of the site and that any database the sites uses has been constructed in the right way. All of the data it holds must of course be accurate and complete.

Make Sure The Results are Displayed the Right Way

If the two areas above have been correctly attended too, the query that the user has input will have been correctly "decoded" and understood and the right parts of the site will have been searched. The next stage is to display the results in a manner that people can understand. Here perhaps one can take a lesson from the Search Engines themselves as they have got the methodology of displaying results down to a fine art.

Whatever the method used, it is essential that they are clear and that the user can easily move on and view what they want. You can of course offer all sorts of advanced search facility, a search within results being especially useful. The main thing is however to ensure that the user is presented with a "helpful" information source and not one that "seems not to care" or gives out the wrong results.

If You Don't The Competition Will

Remember, if you don't help the user, someone else will, and that means a sale lost. So look to your onsite Search Facility and make sure it is up to scratch.


Graham Baylis
Internet Marketing and Promotion Specialists
www.I-O-M.com
"Making sure your needle is found in the Internet Haystack"