Configuring Enterprise Search for Success

1. Configuring Enterprise Search for Success Marianne Sweeny SR Search Strategist marianne@portent.com

2. Marianne Sweeny@portentmarianne@portent.com

3. 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

4. A Frustrating Experience

5. Spoiled by Web Search • Searchers do not know “how to search” 56% constructed poor queries Proficiency with the machine does not translate into proficiency with the software

6. Lack Orientation Capability • Searchers get lost in the data 33% had difficulty navigating/orienting search results 28% had difficulty maintaining orientation on a website

7. Do Not Look with Care • Loss of capacity for discernment 36% 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

8. Web Search is not Enterprise Search

9. Engineers Think that • User behavior is predictable • User behavior is consistent • Process can be automated • Transmission of the output (data) is the end result

10. 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

11. Engineering thinking is • Linear • Object-oriented • Mechanistic passive users • Atomistic view of data (discrete items) • Contained situationality

12. 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

13. Roadmap

14. Enterprise Search Configuration Roadmap Define

16. Define the Scope Find out: What to crawl? Find out: Where the content lives? Find out: how to index Map internal and external resources Discover the sacred cows

17. Do not fear users • Find out what they pain points are • Survey • Interviews • Find out how they compensate • Find and designate Power Users

18. Don’t Boil the Ocean

19. Enterprise Search Configuration Roadmap Design

20. IA & Site structure • Compensate for lack of link relevance • Create Meaningful URLs

21. Design AN ENGAGING User Experience Wean users from Google Web search expectations Encourage and enable better query construction

22. Give the User Some Control • Users look to search engines for guidance. We can provide similar guidance with user controls

23. Content Relational Content Modeling is … Guided ToursProduced Views Task List Drop Down Related Links Best Bets

24. Content: Inventory

25. Content: Audit

26. 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 count

27. 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

28. Enterprise Search Configuration Roadmap Refine

29. Measure & Iterate Keep ahead of user satisfaction by fixing problems early Obtain client feedback on performance Implicit: Search logs Explicit: Power user feedback Periodic company-wide survey feedback Review and tune accordingly Establish and measure against benchmarks that represent success

30. Save time

31. Save money

32. 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

33. PORTENT.CO/ess2013-config These are the links (Yes, use .co, not .com)