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Understanding Search

Christina Wodtke

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Search is a Tardis

• Search lets you go everywhere in time and space

• Search is there when you need it, where ever you are

• Search is bigger on the inside

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This is not search

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This is not search

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This is search

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Search is a system, not a page

• It underlies all activities on the web.• It is an environment people are learning to

live in: ambient search• It must be accessed everywhere the user

may need it, from desktop to ipad to kiosk

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Is search so different?

• User behave differently when searching• Much faster• Requires articulation rather than recognition• Expectations high• Tunnel vision

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Interface

Precision

Recall

User Psychology

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Speed of People Searching is a Challenge

• People take only a second to search

• People want to take only a second

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Researching Search

• Traditional research mars results

• Requires different research methods– Eyetracking– Bucket testing– Ethnography

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Search must be Easy

• Help overcome “query block”• Offer tools for articulation• Use disambiguation tools• Give answers, not just links

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Query block?

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Articulation Problems• The vast number of searches are under 3 words• IN the US, 42% are single-word queries

http://www.keyworddiscovery.com/keyword-stats.html

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Search must be Easy Help overcome “query block”

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Query helpers

Popular searches

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Use disambiguation tools

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Vertical Search

Vertical search

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Vertical Search

• As part of the system, how does vertical search help?– Disambiguation tool– Allows for greater precision– Some searches highly consumable– Raises awareness of offering

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Vertical Search- Challenges

User tunnel vision

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Don’t overwhelm

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• 13 tabs– no one saw them. Six tabs, everyone saw them

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Embed.

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No one uses filters

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Except when they do

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Or they really really do

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ANSWERS

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What do you know?

• Search is a question whose answer is not always a website (or an article)

• What ANSWERS are possible?

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Search must be Easy

Give answers, not just links

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Best Bets (human intervention)

• Analyze the head

• Analyze content

• Maximize the knowledge

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Human disambiguation

How do you use editorial to best effect?

Humans don’t scale.

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Zipf curve (for search)

Most common searches (head)

Least common searches (tail)

Miley Cyrus

James Gandolfini

James McA

fee

Zipf Curve

Pareto Princip

le

Mark B. Templeton

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Logs FTW

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How people search

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Answers

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What unique answers do you possess?

• Your product knowledge• Your teams• Common issues

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Search must be Fast

• Must retrieve results quickly• Must load results quickly• Must be read quickly

Scan time is as important as load time.

Every pixel has a job to do.

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Every pixel has a job to do.

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Comprehensive

Users expect you to look everywhere

From Peter Morville’s Search Patterns

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Federated

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Findable

Tag it! Images don’t have descriptive metadata Many documents don’t have the words users use Metadata can also let you give the user more options for

searching and displaying results

Search Analytics hint: Search Logs can provide insight into the attributes users care most about

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Simple Complex

SynonymRings

AuthorityFiles

ThesauriClassificationSchemes

Equivalence Hierarchical Associative

(Vocabularies)

(Relationships)

Controlled Vocabulary Types

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Controlled vocabularies

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A=B AB

A BEquivalenceChristmas=Xmas

HierarchalWinter Holidays > Christmas

Associative Christmas Tree | Santa Claus

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Synonym rings

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• Simplest type• Helps with search, indexing• Simplifies maintenance

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Synonym rings include

• Acronyms: BBC, British Broadcasting Company; MPG, miles per gallon

• Variant spellings: cancelled, canceled; honor, honour

• Scientific terms versus popular use terms: acetylsalicylic acid, aspirin; lilioceris, lily beetle

– From Synonym Rings and Authority Filesby Karl Fast, Fred Leise and Mike Steckel

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Why Bother?

• Sometimes on intranets, CV’s are skipped

• You think you can force people to use proper terms

• But people are lazy/busy/distracted

I’m tired of typing “Controlled Vocabulary--- CV is shorter.

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Precision

• Usually left to the engineers (don’t do that)• Users give up rather than check the

second page of results• The first answer must be the right answer

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SME testing

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Mind-reading expected

And increasingly delivered

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Jakob Nielsen:

“Poor search was the greatest single cause of reduced usability across intranets we have seen, aside from the general lack of executive support and budget. Search usability accounted for an estimated 43% of the difference in employee productivity between intranets with high and low usability.”

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Let’s Get Doctorin’ the TARDIS

Christina Wodtke

@cwodtke

cwodtke@eleganthack.com

Information Architecture: Blueprints for the Web

www.boxesandarrows.com

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LET’S DISCUSSWhat is search for you?