...
- Use a web analytics tool to generate reports of search queries. XperienCentral usually generates search queries where the search terms (keywords) are included in the URL. Most web analytics tools provide a way to search for specific URLs. Search for URLs with the string ‘
&keyword=’ and generate some reports: for the last month and for the last year. Example: in Google Analytics this can be done by navigating to ‘Content > Top Content’ and then entering ‘&keyword=’ in the ‘Search for URLs containing’ box. - Listen to your visitors. If you have the chance, then talk to your website visitors. If they complain about the search engine then call them or email them and ask the two main questions: “What were you looking for?” and “What did you expect?”. Also ask which queries they used.
...
One way to do this is to organize a session where someone presents the top search queries and summarizes the feedback from search engine users. In this session an attempt could be made to link the top queries to the most relevant pages. Make sure that everyone is aware that it’s not only about what visitors want to find, but also what the organization wants them to find! . This is not only important for companies who want to sell products or services, but for any organization. It’s all about conversion, and conversion is not only about leading visitors to ordering the most expensive product, but also about answering questions for citizens (for governments), finding the self-service page etc. Write down the links between top queries and pages, plus other suggestions from the content experts.
...
- Do visitors always want the most recent documents first, or is the relevance more important than the document date? Is this for all documents, or only some documents?
- Do visitors expect a) answers, b) links or c) direct information? This is different from asking “do we want to provide our visitors with answers/links/direct information?”. Choosing a) for example can have a lot of implications for your information structure and search engine, but if that is what visitors expect than this should be the goal.
- Do we really need to include our 10.000 document management system in the search index? Does it bring anything extra, or does it just lower the relevance of our normal web pages?
...