While most large organizations already have a search feature on their web site, many small- and medium-sized organizations do not. For whatever reason, there’s long been a perception that getting good search results on your web site is complicated or expensive. This month’s column begins a two-part series about adding search features to your web site.
While most large organizations already have a search feature on their web site, many small- and medium-sized organizations do not. For whatever reason, there’s long been a perception that getting good search results on your web site is complicated or expensive. This month’s column begins a two-part series about adding search features to your web site.
Why Search?
Given the dominance and ubiquity of Google, you might wonder if search is worth spending any time on at all. Usability guru Jakob Nielsen sure thinks so. In his May 2001 Alert Box article titled, “Search: Visible and Simple,” (available online at http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20010513.html) Nielsen says: Search is the user’s lifeline for mastering complex websites. The best designs offer a simple search box on the home page and play down advanced search and scoping.
Nielsen goes on to develop a compelling case for having search on your site — and not just a search link — an actual search box that visitors can use to find what they’re looking for. It’s no accident that there’s a search box at the top left corner of the Linux Magazine web site (http://www.linux-mag.com).
Search Outsourcing
One of the first decisions to make is whether to build search yourself or pay someone else to do it for you.
By doing it yourself, you’ll have complete control over the look and feel of the search results. For example, you can filter documents that you’d rather not see in…
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