[Sigia-l] ROI/Value of Search Engine Design - Resources?

[Boniface Lau]

> From: sigia-l-admin at asis.org [mailto:sigia-l-admin at asis.org]On
> Behalf Of Jared M. Spool
>  
> Boniface also wrote:
> 
> >For example, the UIE report at:
> >
> >     http://www.uie.com/Articles/why_amazon_succeeds.htm
> >
> >criticizes Amazon's search capability on electronic products. But
> >the cited example "DVD player" worked much better than what the
> >report suggested.
> 
> In that article (or anywhere else, for that fact), we never stated
> that the query 'DVD Player' doesn't produce useful results.

The UIE article "Why Amazon Succeeds -- And Why It Won't Help You"
said:

WAS> This is where Amazon starts to get into trouble. In addition to
WAS> selling books, they also sell electronics. What did users type in
WAS> when they were searching for a DVD player? 
[...]
WAS> In our study, when users were shopping for DVD players, they
WAS> typed in "DVD player". This is typical for
WAS> non-uniquely-identified content.

Thus, I thought when I applied the query "DVD player" to the Amazon
search engine to search in electronics, I would see how Amazon "gets
into trouble". But I did not see that.


> At least, we didn't intend to state that. We thought we only stated
> that it's a different type of query than when someone is shopping
> for a book or a DVD. 

Would you mind suggesting a query in place of "DVD player" to show how
Amazon gets into trouble handling non-uniquely-identified content?


Boniface