Google has published some wise advice on how to get the most out of their Site Search tool. Of course, the first question you need to ask is whether you want to use a tool like Google’s Site Search or use a non search engine based search tool?
Either way, there are some important tips to getting the most out of your site search tool.
- Make your search box easy to find
Visitors should be able to find your site search tool quickly and easily - Make sure search is always available
Make the search tool available on every page - Customize the appearance of search to fit your site
Alter the colour scheme and appearance so it blends with your site - Experiment
select different locations and design schemes to find the most effective - Be open to feedback
Give your visitors the chance to leave feedback - Learn what users are looking for
Find out what visitors are looking for and provide solutions - Let visitors know who’s got your back
It’s up to – use the ‘powered by Google logo, or hide it. It isn’t always a positive to display it
They are all common sense suggestions, however we sometimes forget to implement them. Search has become so commonplace now it makes sense to encourage your visitors to search for content from within your site first. This is particularly true of content heavy sites.
Sites that hundreds of pages can be difficult to navigate. Do you have a couple of hundred sidebar links, or do you start to nest those pages perhaps four or more levels deep. Site search can solve those problems, particularly if it is well promoted.
If you do have a content heavy web site and you don’t have an effective site search tool, you may be missing out on a lot of traffic and resultant conversions.
