Web Site Search

Today's website visitors are exceedingly impatient. They will leave your website in a matter of seconds if they can't find what they are looking for. The browser "Back" button has always been the retreat mechanism by which visitors leave and we expect that to remain true. However, we are seeing the Search option increase as a prominent point of 2nd to last resort for departing visitors.

Visitors know what they want and they will give you a slight benefit of the doubt if you have a prominent search function. Provide a web site search option and make sure that it's not only functional but traceable.

Analyze and learn from the search data. If you see a clear trend in certain search topics, then by all means, re-organize your navigation to give those topics more visibility.

Web site search functionality is fairly simple - type in a search term and return results. The only questions fall on the scope of search and how big of a site you are searching.

Scope of search

The scope of search is simply controlling which pages or areas of the website are eligible for search. Certain types of search tools will search your entire site but they allow you to exclude specific pages or directories from the search.

Conversely, some search tools are limited in their ability. Shopping carts often have a built-in search functionality but the scope is generally limited to cart pages only. Your "about us" section will not appear in search.

Size of web site

There are many web site search products out on the market, including several free /cgi/ tools. We prefer the offerings by Google because their search technology works and the prices are reasonable. The Google tools can be integrated into the design of your website so the usability is seamless.

If you have a moderately-sized site of less than 5,000 pages, then the Google SiteSearch™ tool is probably for you.
If you have a large website and/or need to search content on an Intranet (behind a secure threshold), then the Google Mini is more your size.

Both of these products can be purchased directly from Google but our developers have intimate knowledge of each. We will guide you through the process of implementation and security.

Contact us today to discuss your search requirements.