Configuring Enterprise Search for Success

Marianne Sweeny

SR Search Strategist

marianne@portent.com

Marianne Sweeny@portentmarianne@portent.com

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AGENDA

Users

Search Experience

Engineers vs. People

Roadmap

Define: problem space, scope

Evaluate: and describe

Users

Artifacts

Design: search functionality

Execute

Power users

Success measures

Refine: Experience Learning Model

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A FRUSTRATING EXPERIENCE

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SPOILED BY WEB SEARCH

Searchers do not know “how to search”56% constructed poor queriesProficiency with the machine does not

translate into proficiency with the software

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LACK ORIENTATION CAPABILITY

Searchers get lost in the data33% had difficulty navigating/orienting

search results28% had difficulty maintaining orientation

on a website

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DO NOT LOOK WITH CARE

Loss of capacity for discernment36% did not go beyond the first 3 search

results (not pages…results on page 1)91% did not go beyond the first page of

search results

55% selected irrelevant results 1 or more times

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WEB SEARCH IS NOT ENTERPRISE SEARCH8

ENGINEERS THINK THAT

User behavior is predictable

User behavior is consistent

Process can be automated

Transmission of the output (data) is the end result

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IN THE REAL WORLD

User behavior is…

Interpretive

Meaning is constructed in relation to unique situation

User behavior changes due to changing context

Information is processed before and after the system

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ENGINEERING THINKING IS

Linear

Object-oriented

Mechanistic passive users

Atomistic view of data (discrete items)

Contained situationality

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OUTSIDE OF STAR TREK

In the real world, user thinking is…

Chaotic

Subjective

Constructivist active user

Holistic view that encompasses additional elements for context

Internal cognition

Trans-situationality

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ROADMAP 13

DEFINEEnterprise Search Configuration Roadmap

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DEFINE THE SCOPE

Find out: What to crawl?

Find out: Where the content lives?

Find out: how to index Map internal and external resourcesDiscover the sacred cows

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DO NOT FEAR USERS

Find out what they pain points are

Survey

Interviews

Find out how they compensate

Find and designate Power Users

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DON’T BOIL THE OCEAN

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DESIGNEnterprise Search Configuration Roadmap

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IA & SITE STRUCTURE

Compensate for lack of link relevance

Create Meaningful URLs

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DESIGN AN ENGAGING USER EXPERIENCE

Wean users from Google Web search expectations

Encourage and enable better query construction

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GIVE THE USER SOME CONTROL

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Users look to search engines for guidance. We can provide similar guidance with user controls

CONTENT

Guided ToursProduced ViewsTask List Drop DownRelated LinksBest Bets

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Relational Content Modeling is …

CONTENT: INVENTORY 24

CONTENT: AUDIT 25

PAGE TITLE

Appears in bar above browser window

Bookmark Text

Link text in search results

Term placement here = strong indicator of relevance

Must map to the content on page

Only 69 characters including spaces displayed

Make them count26

METADATA DESCRIPTION

Meta-description appears as blurb text with search result link

150 characters including spaces

Rest is cut off with …

Use for all types of content

Page code annotation of rich media components

MS Office documents & PDF downloads

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REFINEEnterprise Search Configuration Roadmap

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MEASURE & ITERATE

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SAVE TIME

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SAVE MONEY 31

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Search is a user experience

Users bring outside expectations from Web search to the Enterprise

OOB is not what you paid for

To be effective, Enterprise search has to be specifically relevant

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PORTENT.CO/ess2013-config

These are the links

(Yes, use .co, not .com)