Prioritizing Web Usability
Nielsen and Loranger
Chapter 5: Search
Paul Ammann
http://cs.gmu.edu/~pammann/
SWE 432
Design and Implementation of Software for the Web
Overview
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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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The State of Search
• External vs. Internal Search Success: 56% vs. 33%
• Internal Search Should Be Much Better
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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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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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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
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Enter
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Advanced Search: IEEE Explore
Parametric Search: Zappos Shoes
Search Usability: Good Search and Expected Search
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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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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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Search Engine Results Pages (2)
• Tip: SERP Dating Conventions
– Use International Format, But Spell Out Month
• So September 17, 2009 is 2009-09-17 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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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
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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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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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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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