1. When (and How) to Improve Your Site’s Search
FOR QUOTES AND SUCH
Joe
When (and How) to Improve Your Site’s Search

2. Award-Winning Consultancy
EK AT A GLANCE
STABLE CLIENT BASE
Federal
Commercial
20+ EXPERT CONSULTANTS
Joe
BASED IN DC
Award-Winning Consultancy
KMWorld’s 100 Companies That Matter in KM (2015, 2016, 2017)
CIO Review’s 20 Most Promising KM Solution Providers (2016)
Washingtonian’s Top 50 Great Places to Work (2017)
Arlington Economic Development’s Fast Four Award – Fastest Growing Company (2016)
5 AREAS OF EXPERTISE
AGILE TRANSFORMATION
CHANGE MANAGEMENT
CONTENT & BRAND STRATEGY
DEVELOPMENT SERVICES
STRATEGY & DESIGN
GLOBAL REACH WITH CLIENTS IN
12+ COUNTRIES

3. CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER
MEET THE TEAM
All
Joe Hilger
Rebecca Wyatt
SENIOR CONSULTANT
@rebeccachilali
CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER
@jhilgerbc
Skilled trainer, content strategist, and product owner. Focused on empowering teams and maximizing learning.
Senior technologist with expertise in search, content management, and unstructured information.

4. HOW SEARCH WORKS

5. Algorithm Index Analysis & Refinement SEARCH: UNDER THE HOOD
…Binary OR Relevance Score
…Optimized and in a specified format
…Continuous improvement

6. TARGETED “Show me the one, specific document that I need.”
SEARCH TYPES
“Show me the one, specific document that I need.”
Windows
IOS
Google Drive
TARGETED
ONE

7. SEARCH TYPES
“Help me find what I want, but also show me other information I wasn’t aware of.”
eCommerce
Intranets
Web Search
DISCOVERY
MANY

8. SEARCH TYPES
“Show me every or file that contains information relevant to this topic.”
eDiscovery
LEGAL
ALL

9. ASSESS YOUR SEARCH

10. Stemming: Enter a search term with a stem (plurals count)
THREE SIMPLE TESTS
Stemming: Enter a search term with a stem (plurals count)
Go to idealist.org and search for teach. Teaching?
Teacher?
Phrasing: Type a phrase (not just a word)
Go to volunteermatch.org. Search for:
Tutor?
Tutoring position?
Spelling: Misspell your search term
Go to volunteermatch.org. Search for:
Immigrents?

11. Search requires TRUST Search logic MUST be transparent.
Always explain how and why results appear.
Searchers quickly lose confidence if they are confused
TRUST is the result of positive USER EXPERIENCE and it can be affected by UX DESIGN.
Search requires TRUST

12. WHEN TO UPGRADE SEARCH

13. WP DEFAULT SEARCH Simple sitemap Users rely mainly on navigation
Titles of pages and posts are unique
WordPress
Default
SOLR
(Enterprise Search)
SearchWP
(Plugin)

14. SEARCHWP PLUGIN
Site is large: Lots of thought leadership, blogs, events, custom donation pages and campaigns
Content is categorized:
Resource type = blog/news/event/publications
Categorized by program or service area
High percentage of site visitors on site use search
WordPress
Default
SOLR
(Enterprise Search)
SearchWP
(Plugin)

15. SOLR ENTERPRISE SEARCH
Search must index content in multiple languages
Search must index content across multiple portals
Search results must respect content permissions
Search should personalize content based upon what is known about the user
WordPress
Default
SOLR
(Enterprise Search)
SearchWP
(Plugin)

16. WE’LL BE ANSWERING QUESTIONS NOW
Q & A SESSION Q A
&
THANKS FOR LISTENING
WE’LL BE ANSWERING QUESTIONS NOW