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Optimizing your content for search How did you find that?! Optimizing your content for search This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND

Sharon Weaver, MOS, BSAC, SSBB Smarter Consulting – CEO Adjunct Professor/Trainer: MS SharePoint, MS Office, BA, Six Sigma, Leadership 20+ years designing, developing, and managing software 13+ years SharePoint experience Six Sigma Black Belt, BSAC Certified sweaver@smarter-consulting.com www.sharepointgoddess.com @sharoneweaver

How do you find stuff?

Organized Systems vs Disorganized Systems Less stuff! Too much stuff No duplicates Many copies Recent & Relevant No lifecycle management 1 to 2 levels Many folders deep Categorized Everything in one place Clearly identified No standards Naming conventions No governance

Taxonomy/Folksonomy

Taxonomy (classify) A way to classify and organize information

Folksonomy (tags, behavior)

Properties (a.k.a. Metadata)

What are properties (a.k.a. metadata)? Name Title Description Content Additional Fields

What are properties (a.k.a. metadata)? Example Name – koalamombaby.jpg Title – Koala mom and baby Description – A picture of a Koala mom and baby in a tree in Australia Content – N/A (photo) Location – Australia Type of animal – Bear? Marsupial? Baby – Y/N

Metadata (Properties) – How it applies to search

Metadata (Properties) and how it applies to search? Ranking! Everything is given a value (score) that is used by the search engine to determine which items show up where on the search results list. As content attributes/properties/metadata is added or updated, the score for each item changes based on information and user behavior. For example: the more users search for a certain term, the higher it shows up on the list of results! Hint – This is how google makes LOTS of money!

How do you “manage” them? (Managed Properties) SP 2016/Online Manually create a managed property field and value Create field/column Create/Manage Query Rules Wait for it to be crawled Create Custom Ranking Model Voila! SharePoint creates a managed property for you 

What is ranked? Search index item Description Content Words contained in the items. For text-based items that, such as documents, this is typically text. For other types of items, such as videos, there is little or no content. Metadata Information describing items such as title, author, URL or creation date. Metadata is automatically extracted from most types of items. Web graph data Information such as authority (from authoritative pages settings) and anchor text (from the hyperlinks associated with the item, and items linking to the item). File type Some file types are considered more important than others. For example, Word and PowerPoint results are typically more important than Excel results. Interaction Information about the number of times a search result is clicked, and which queries led to a result being clicked.

Can I change the ranking model? YES! Create/Manage Query Rules https://docs.microsoft.com/en- us/sharepoint/search/manage-query-rules Create Custom Ranking Model https://docs.microsoft.com/en- us/sharepoint/search/create-custom-ranking-model

Create/Manage Query Rules? Permissions Creating query rules at different levels in a SharePoint Server farm You can create a query rule for a Search service application, a site collection, or a site. The following table shows the permissions that are required to create a query rule in each case, and where the query rule can be used. Levels and permissions for query rules Create/Manage Query Rules? Permissions When you create a query rule at this level You must have this permission The query rule can be used in Search service application Search service application administrator All site collections in web applications that consume the Search service application Site collection Site collection administrator All sites in the site collection Site Site owner The site

Create/Manage Query Rules? Examples Change ranking when: Description Result contains keyword Matches if result contains keywords in content, including metadata. Title contains keyword Matches if result title contains the specified keywords or phrases. Title matches keyword Matches if result title exactly matches the specified keywords or phrases. URL starts with Matches if result URL starts with the specified URL. URL exactly matches Matches if result URL exactly matches the specified URL. Content type is Matches if result is of the content type that you specify. File extension matches Matches if result has the specified file extension. Result has the tag Matches if result has the specified taxonomy tag as part of its meta-data. Manual condition Add restriction using standard query syntax.

Optimize your content!

How can end users help optimize content? Create, update, and manage metadata Don’t rely on folders…use metadata and views instead! Use managed metadata for common selections Country, State, Division Create separate fields/columns for searchable terms Add common keywords Avoid scanned documents OR use OCR to digitize content

How can end users help optimize content? Check and update properties within documents File -> Properties Fill in descriptions for items such as photos that do not have content associated with them Make sure Titles contain separate words 2018FinancialBudget 2018 Financial Budget 2018_Financial_Budget

Denver Marriott Tech Center THANK YOU!! Sharon Weaver SharePint: Pint Brothers Denver Marriott Tech Center 4900 S. Syracuse Street Denver, CO 80237 sweaver@smarter-consulting.com www.sharepointgoddess.com @sharoneweaver