Do You Allow Searches On Your Website?

The very first question you want to answer is: Do I want to allow visitors to do searches on my website? The answer has some implications…

Search Box Implementations

The three most common types of search facility implementations on a website are the following:

Static Search Mechanism

At the back of the website sits a little program that runs through the website and indexes every word and phrase on every page on your website. The indexer program runs on a scheduled basis (maybe once every two days or manually once a week).

The indexer program builds the indexes and the index tables stay static until the indexer program runs again.

The advantages of this method are that the returning of search results are quick and it is ideally suited for large website.

The disadvantages of the static search mechanism are that the indexes need to be rebuilt on a regular basis and the initial implementation takes some effort.

Dynamic Search Mechanism

The website provides a search function, when triggered by a search from a visitor, dynamically search every page on the website for the phrase in question.

The advantages of the dynamic search mechanism are that no maintenance of the search facility is required and it is ideally suited for small web sites.

The disadvantages are that each search takes some time (web server time) to complete and it is not suited for large websites.

Outside (or Outsourced) Search Mechanisms

The last common implementation of search functionality can be seen in little ‘Search Google’ or ‘Search Yahoo’ boxes on a website.

Both Google and Yahoo provides functionality whereby a website can use their technology to do a search on a local website.

The disadvantage is that only pages indexed by Google (or Yahoo) can be searched. If you have pages on your website that are not indexed (such as very old or very new pages), these pages cannot be searched.

The advantages are that the returning of search results are quick and does not make use of you own server resoures.

The Question: To search or not to search

In order to provide a search facility on your website, you have to provide a search implementation as described above.

Since the implementation of a search facility is an effort, it is often left for later … very much later.

Why A Search Box?

I believe it is a mistake not providing a search facility on your website.

The major advantage of a search box is enhancing the user experience of your website in getting to the right information in a quick and convenient way. In this way you ensure a happy visitor who will return to your website and have a look again.

The other advantage is the feedback provided by your search facility, showing most searched words and phrases.

Conclusion

Providing a search feature on your website enhances visitor experience of your website, while at the same time provide you with some feedback on what was searched for.

Tags: website automation, website design