SEARCH PAGES AND RESULTS
Anna Fidgeon
SHOULD YOU HAVE A SEARCH PAGE?
You have enough content
 Users need specific information and will need to
use search to get it
 You have a strong navigation system
 You/your colleagues know how to keep it going
 It is the best option

SEARCH BEHAVIOR PATTERNS
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Domain Expertise
Search Experience
Cognitive Style (global  analytical)
Goal Type
Mode of Seeking
Situational Idiosyncrasies
HELPING USERS GET OUT OF THEIR
GOOGLE MINDSET
Users no longer expect to use Boolean operators,
brainstorm keywords or do other advanced
searching
ADVANCED SEARCH
Morville & Rosenfeld, 2007 suggest you don’t put
too much energy into this
 Aula, Khan & Guan, 2010 found users go to
advanced search pages when they are having
trouble initially
 Lazaris, 2009 suggests providing quick access to
an advanced search page

RESEARCH
If you have a search page: search-log analysis
 If you don’t: compare similar sites
 Personas: help you understand motives & search
knowledge

BASIC SEARCH PAGE
SEARCHING OPTIONS
REPRESENTATIONAL
DESCRIPTIVE
VISUAL
RESULTS
Alphabetically
 Chronologically
 Relevance

THE BASICS
1
3
5
4
2
WHAT JUST HAPPENED?
NARROWING RESULTS
BROWSING RESULTS
PAGES
??
PREVIEWS
GIVING USERS WHAT THEY WANT
COMING BACK LATER
BEST PRACTICES
• Make it clear where the search box is
• Allow users to filter or narrow results- either at search
page or results
• Make links obvious, put most relevant results first
• Allow users to search AND browse
• Assist users who might be having a hard time locating
their information
• Collect user feedback before and after the design
process
RESOURCES
Aula, A., Khan, R. M., & Guan, Z. (2010). How does search behavior change as search becomes
more difficult? Paper presented at the Proceedings of the 28th international conference
on Human factors in computing systems, Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Retrieved February 22,
2012, from http://dub.washington.edu/djangosite/media/papers/pap943-aula-1.pdf
Ferrara, John. (2008, January 30). Search Behavior Patterns.
Retrieved February 22, 2012, from http://www.boxesandarrows.com/view/searchbehavior
Lazaris, L. (2009, September 28). Search Results Design: Best Practices and
Design Patterns. Retrieved February 22, 2012, from
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/09/28/
search-results-design-best-practices-and-design-patterns/
Morville, Peter; Rosenfeld, Louis (2007). Information Architecture for the World Wide Web.
O'Reilly Media. Retrieved February 20, 2012, from Ebook Library.
Spool, Jared. M. (2008, July 9). Producing Great Search Results: Harder than It
Looks, Part 1. Retrieved February 22, 2012, from
http://www.uie.com/articles/search_results/
UI Patterns (n.d.). Continuous Scrolling. Retrieved February 22, 2012, from http://uipatterns.com/
THANKS!
QUESTIONS?