1. Prioritizing Web Usability Nielsen and Loranger Chapter 5: Search
Paul Ammann
SWE 432
Design and Implementation of Software for the Web

2. Overview
The State of Search
How Search Should Work
Search Interface
Search Engine Results Pages
Search Engine Optimization
Current Success Rates For External Search Vastly Exceed Success Rates For Internal Search. How???
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3. The State of Search External vs. Internal Search Success: 56% vs. 33%
Internal Search Should Be Much Better
Much Smaller Set of Pages
Extensive Knowledge of User Intent
Deep Understanding of Important Parts of Your Site
Deep Understanding of Old/Obsolete Parts of Your Site
Potentially More Access to Metadata
Controlled Vocabulary
Synonyms, Misspellings, Variants
You Can Trust Your Own Customized Summary Information
Third Party Web Sites Are Deliberately Dishonest
No Problem with Spammers or Other Manipulation
Internal Search Is A Completely Different Problem
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4. The State of Search Some Go Immediately To Search; Some Prefer Links
Need to Support Both Types of Behavior
Tip: How To Know If You Need Search
Up to 100 pages; 100 to 1000 pages; More than 1000 pages
Users Can Easily Scan a Single Page
Three Simple Steps to Better Search
Buy Better Search Software
And Tweak The Settings
Design SERP According to Usability Guidelines
Improve Pages So They Work Better With Search Software
Write Good Titles and Summaries
Good Internal Search Requires Investment
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5. How Search Should Work
Users Want Internal Search to Look Like External Search
The Three Things Users Expect From Search
Search Box
Search Button
Linear Prioritized Results
Tip: When Is a Search Not a Search?
Search Means Keyword Search
Don’t Use The Search Button for Other Actions
Enter
Submit
Advanced Search: IEEE Explore
Parametric Search: Zappos Shoes
Search Usability: Good Search and Expected Search
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6. Search Interface Standard Placement
Text Box/Button Top Left or Top Right On Every Page
You Can’t Easily Predict Where A User Will Become Lost
Tip: Don’t Try To Be A Search Engine
Don’t Search The Whole Web; Others Do That Better
Query Length and Search Box Width
Typical 18 Character Width Too Narrow for 27% Queries
Recommend 27 Character Width: Accommodates 90%
Specialized Sites Need More: American Heart Association
Advanced Search And Scoped Search: Generally Avoid
Boolean Algebra Too Hard For Most Users
Your Search Should Be “Normal”
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7. Search Engine Results Pages
Number One Guideline: Mimic Major Search Engines
Google, Bing, Yahoo
No Need for Numbering or Relevancy Rankings
Users Will Scan From Top Anyway
Each Search Should Start With a Clickable Headline
Follow With 2/3 Line Summary: BASF
Target Practice
Fitt’s Law: Time to Click a Target Is:
Inversely Proportional to Size of Target
Proportional to Log of Distance to Target
Badly Designed SERP Requires Users To Click Tiny Numbers
Arrows or “Next”/”Prev” Links Are Better
Major Search Engines Have Converged
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8. Search Engine Results Pages (2)
Tip: SERP Dating Conventions
Use International Format, But Spell Out Month
So September 17, 2009 is or 2009-September-17
Date Should Match “Real” Writing of Document
Tip: Help Bad Spellers
Use Prefix To Suggest Complete Search Queries
Provide a “Did You Mean” link
Place Above Search Hits
7.5% of Queries Contained Typos
BASF again: “Polyethylene Fibers” vs. “Polythelene Fibers”
Repeat on Bing and Google
Helping User vs. Punishing User
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9. Search Engine Results Pages (3)
Best Bets
Definition: Manually Link Query to One or More Pages
External Search Engines Don’t Trust Site Suggestions
One Of the Many Prices of Spam
But Internal Search Engines Can and Should
Don’t Differentiate Best Bets From Search Engine Results
Lest
User Will Think They Are Ads…
Mine Search Logs For Most Frequent Queries
Test Against Search Engine
Add Best Bet if Necessary
Adding Value to Internal Search
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10. Search Engine Results Pages (4)
Four Ways to Build Best Bets
Product Names/Brand Names
Product Numbers/SKUs/Catalog Numbers/Other Codes
Category Names
Use Names Commonly Accepted In Your Industry
Names of Top Executives/Key Staff
Maintaining Best Bets
Maintenance is Hard!
Best Bet Maintenance Requires Process and Staffing
Interesting Example: HP
Note Result Categories When Searching For Specific Product
Search Still Has a Long Way to Go
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11. Search Engine Results Pages (5)
Sorting the SERP
Usually Sort by Relevance
Don’t Confuse User With Options
Exceptions
Sort By Date For Users Monitoring Updates
Example: MSNBC (Search “Redoubt Volcano”)
Sort By Price For Product Heavy Sites
Example: Amazon (Search “DeWalt Power Tools”)
For Product Sites, SERP Needs to Show a LOT of Results
Example: Exterior Lighting Universe (Search For a Light)
Default Presentation Matches Typical User
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12. Search Engine Results Pages (6)
No Results Found
Blank Page is Bad!
Help User Modify Query To Get Better Results
Present Bad Query For Editing, With Suggestions
Good Time To Admit To Having “Advanced Search”
Example of What Not To Do: Organic Produce Shoppe
One Result Found
Option: Go Straight to Page
Acceptable for Search on Known Item, such as SKU
Example: Home Depot (Search Brand Name vs. SKU)
Bu Usually Violates User Expectations
Showing SERP Gives User Option To Modify Query
Special Search Results Demand Extra Care
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13. Search Engine Optimization
Huge Incentive To Improve Web Sites Search Ranking
Black Hat SEO Tricks: Don’t Do These Things!
Cloaking
Send Regular Pages To Users vs. “Doorway Pages” to Spiders
In 2006, Google banned BMW’s main site for cloaking
Search Spam
Creating Huge Numbers of Content Free Pages With Lots of Keywords
Link Farms
Establish Bogus Web Sites That Link to Your Site
Comment Spam (Blogs, Discussion Forums, etc)
Post TextWith Links Back To Your Site
Domain Repurposing
Buy Website With Respectable Ranking and Replace Content
Bad Guys Are Serious, And They Make Money At It
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14. Search Engine Optimization(2)
Three White-Hat SEO Techniques
Linguistic SEO, Architectural SEO, Reputation SEO
Naming Names
Picking A New Company Name or Brand Name?
Test Search Name and Avoid Collisions
Example: First Division Association, est. 1918
Tip: The Beauty of Using Text-Only Ads
Most Search Engine Ads Are Small Boxes of Text
Most Users Ignore Media-Rich Ads
Search Spiders Are The World’s Most Influential Blind Readers
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15. Search Engine Optimization(3)
Tip: Tracking The Value of Search Ads
If You Pay For Search Ads, You Have To Track Visitor Value
Search Visitors Are More Valuable Than Content Visitors
The Top Linguistic SEO Guideline
Speak the User’s Language, Not Corporate Jargon
Search Query Logs For User Vocabulary
Listen to Users in User Testing
Bloggers Are Leading Vocabulary Indicators
Emphasize Words That Describe the User Problem
Users Search Problems, Not Solutions
Monitoring Users To Understand Their Behavior
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16. Search Engine Optimization(4)
Tip: Keyword Overuse Backfires
If Your Content Is Incomprehensible, You Still Lose
Tip: Think Phrases, Not Keywords
Longer Phrases Suggest Proximity To Task Completion
Architectural SEO
Ensuring Your Pages Can Be Indexed
Supplement Images, etc. With Text
Having A Linking Structure To Guide Search Spiders
Dynamic Pages Are The Issue
Spiders Ignore Anything After the”?” in a URL
Use Descriptive Text in the Link
Link More To Main Page For Concept
Construct Your Pages As Search Engines Expect
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17. Search Engine Optimization(5)
Reputation SEO
Usually, “Good” Sites Score Higher Than “Bad” Sites
Links Are Good
Links From High Reputation Sites Are Better
People Naturally Cite Sites They Believe Are High Quality
Link Rot Erodes Perceived Quality
Currently, An Overreliance on Links For Reputation
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