Search Pattern Adoption: are we making an impact? Lyle Kantrovich IA Summit 2014 San Diego @LKANTROV | #searchia #ias14 VIVID MOJO
Aug 23, 2014
Search Pattern Adoption: are we making an impact?
Lyle Kantrovich IA Summit 2014 San Diego
@LKANTROV | #searchia #ias14 VIVID MOJO
Background
• About me…
• Why would I do this?
@LKANTROV | #searchia #ias14 VIVID MOJO
Summary
• Basic search patterns for on-site search
• Research on search pattern usage on large corporate sites
– Fortune 50
– Fortune 451-500
• Why aren’t more sites using patterns?
• What does this say about our effectiveness?
@LKANTROV | #searchia #ias14 VIVID MOJO
Nine Search Patterns
• Global search box in header • Allow query revision on results page • Show the number of results • Highlight keywords in result titles • Highlight keywords in result snippets • Provide search tips when zero results • Autosuggest • “Best bets” / recommended results • Faceted or categorized results
@LKANTROV | #searchia #ias14 VIVID MOJO
Global search box in header
@LKANTROV | #searchia #ias14
11% of F50 fail to do this.
VIVID MOJO
Allow query revision on results page
@LKANTROV | #searchia #ias14
28% of F50 fail to do this.
VIVID MOJO
Show the number of results
@LKANTROV | #searchia #ias14
26% of F50 fail to do this.
VIVID MOJO
Highlight keywords in result titles
@LKANTROV | #searchia #ias14
54% of F50 fail to do this.
VIVID MOJO
Highlight keywords in result snippets
@LKANTROV | #searchia #ias14
33% of F50 fail to do this.
VIVID MOJO
Provide search tips when zero results
@LKANTROV | #searchia #ias14
30% of F50 fail to do this.
VIVID MOJO
Autosuggest
@LKANTROV | #searchia #ias14
65% of F50 fail to do this.
VIVID MOJO
“Best bets” / recommended results
@LKANTROV | #searchia #ias14
70% of F50 fail to do this.
VIVID MOJO
Faceted or categorized results
@LKANTROV | #searchia #ias14
59% of F50 fail to do this.
VIVID MOJO
Berkshire Hathaway – circa 1998
No Search
@LKANTROV | #searchia #ias14 VIVID MOJO
Berkshire Hathaway (F#5) – today
No Search
@LKANTROV | #searchia #ias14 VIVID MOJO
Berkshire Hathaway – News Releases
No Search
@LKANTROV | #searchia #ias14
“Microcontent”
VIVID MOJO
Providing a Global Search Capability
• Some companies don’t provide on-site search
– Berkshire Hathaway (#5)
– Express Scripts (#24)
• Some sites have multiple search silos or only provide search for limited content
– Amazon (#49)
– Facebook (#482)
– Walgreens (#37)
@LKANTROV | #searchia #ias14 VIVID MOJO
Usage Data
@LKANTROV | #searchia #ias14 VIVID MOJO
Usage Data - Adjusted
@LKANTROV | #searchia #ias14 VIVID MOJO
“Best Practice” Adoption
• Of the 45 sites with search in the F50, on average, they use five of the nine search patterns
• Within the F451-500, sites only used 4 patterns on average
• Quality of results tended to be lower on sites that followed fewer of these patterns
@LKANTROV | #searchia #ias14 VIVID MOJO
Reasons for status quo?
• Search is HARD… • Search is BORING…(?) • Pattern relevance is contextual… • IT owns the search tools • No one is minding search, analytics, etc. • Vendor search tools are poor • Google is everyone’s default anyway • Agencies are gone when search gets implemented • Bad content / metadata • More???
@LKANTROV | #searchia #ias14 VIVID MOJO
Your mission, should you choose…
• Search is a critical part of the web experience…right?
• IA’s need to push for better search.
• IA’s need to push for better tools/products from search vendors.
• IA’s need to move beyond design to search analytics and search quality metrics
@LKANTROV | #searchia #ias14 VIVID MOJO
Consider This
Fortune 50 revenue in 2013: $5.7 Trillion USD
If each Fortune 50 company spent $1 million annually on search it would hardly put dent in profits. (2013 profits were $400 Billion.)
We need to stop selling “cars” and “new paint jobs” and start helping them be better drivers.
@LKANTROV | #searchia #ias14 VIVID MOJO
How do we measure the impact of our industry? Do we need metrics for our tribe’s effectiveness?
@LKANTROV | #searchia #ias14