[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 Eric Reiss
>  
[...]
> I routinely see users head for the search button AFTER they've tried
> to find what they're looking for using the site's traditional
> hierarchy. (Jared mentions that users hit search when they fail to
> find the right trigger words on the page.)
> 
> More often than not one of two problems is present: the logical
> structure of the site is a mess or the navigation is tough to
> use/figure out. In other words, it seems to me that hitting the
> search button signals other basic findability problems on the site.
> Couple this with a certain degree of irritation/frustration on the
> part of the user at this juncture and I'm not surprised the failure
> rates are higher.

That is an interesting observation. 

"Why On-Site Searching Stinks" (http://www.uie.com/searchar.htm) said:

WOSSS> When they used an on-site search engine (we did not study
WOSSS> Internet search engines), their success rate was only 30%. In
WOSSS> tasks where they used only links, however, users succeeded 53%
WOSSS> of the time.  

I wonder how much of the low success rate in search was due to having
already failed with links?

Were the odds stacked against search in the WOSSS study? By that I
mean tasks succeeded with links would move on without trying a search.
But had search was also tried, it might have reported a success as
well.

With the failure of Jared's defence and the thick veil of secrecy
surrounding the study detail, they remind me of the expression, "If it
looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and walks like a duck..." ;-)


Boniface