Marko Hurst

Search Analytics For Your Site:

Una Conversación Con Tus Consumidores

eMetrics Madrid, Espana 2009Keynote: Marko Hurst

Marko Hurst

Me

Book: Search Analytics - Conversations With Your Customers

• Anticipated release: December 2009

• Book website: RosenfeldMedia.com/books/SearchAnalytics

• Co-Author: Lou Rosenfeld

Consultant, Author, & Speaker

• User Experience

• Web Analytics

• Behavioral Targeting: (Machine Learning & Neuroscience)

Blog: MarkoHurst.com “Insightful Analytics”

Twitter: MarkoHurst

Contact: Marko@MarkoHurst.com

Marko Hurst

Before We Begin

Audience Survey & Search Info

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Audience Survey

Question 1

Who currently has ‘search’ on your company website or on your intranet/extranet?

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Audience Survey

Question 2

How would you rate your experience with your onsite search engine?

Criteria of success for a well performing search engine means that it delivers relevant results you expected on the first page without refining

Defies statistical probability

You are pleasantly delighted and use it often

Less dangerous, but about the same odds as Russian Roulette

There is a greater chance of finding a new continent than content

You’d rather contract an incurable disease than use it again

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Finding Information Online

Three (3) ways to find information

• Browse (navigation, links)

• Ask (help - automated, live person)

• Search (query input field/box)

SEARCH due to the popularity of search engines (Google, Yahoo!) is the #1 most used feature to find information online

• BUT, once a visitor gets to your site, ‘browse’ is the #1 method (with some exceptions)

• About 1/3 of all visitors use search, but sites range from 5 - 70%*

• Why does the information seeking behavior change onsite?

* Observations from client engagements

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Over Promising and Under Delivering On Search Results

Onsite search ‘mildly’ sucks. Why?

I.T. only project

Implemented without consideration of the user

No optimization program in place

Lack of experience

Search is believed to be a ‘turnkey’ solution that is simply ‘plugged in’

• <evil grin> admit it, you thought it was that easy <evil grin/>

• Getting search right is hard work and ongoing

• Be weary of anyone who says anything to the contrary, they are probably trying to sell you something

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Unfortunately For You As A…

VISITOR that means you are….

• left unsatisfied

• annoyed

• unfulfilled

• sometimes feeling stupid

BUSINESS that means you…

• didn’t think about your entire visitor/customer experience

• lost a potential customer, perhaps forever

• have reduced your customer satisfaction rate

• your site isn’t a usable as you ‘think it is’

• you are not listening to your what your customers are telling you

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A Shining Light of Hope

Book Objective

Provide simple and effective Site Search analysis techniques for user experience & web analytic professionals of all levels to better understand their visitors in order to deliver a superior experience

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Benefits & Expectations

SSA* produces actionable insights

• Techniques used are about analysis, NOT reporting (and there was much rejoicing!)

• For some, this like reaching Nirvana

• For others, this is like opening Pandora’s Box

To achieve the benefits of SSA expect to:

• Change site design/layout

• Change keywords, copy, metadata, labels, navigation, taxonomy, etc.

• Add &/or remove pages

• Change your SEO & SEM

• And much more!

* SSA = Site Search Analytics

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Agenda

What Is Site Search Analytics?

How We Find Information

Anatomy of Search

SSA Techniques

Q&A

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What Is Site Search Analytics?

And What It’s Not

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SSA Is Not About Improving…

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SSA Is About Improving…

Public facing websites, intranets/extranets, mobile, etc.

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A Few Onsite Search Engines You May Encounter

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How We Find Information

Information Foraging

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Information Trail

Humans forge for information similar to how animals forage for food

1. Move outwards in a direction we think (predict) will provide the expected results

2. Continue on a path as long as we ‘smell’ signs that we are still on the correct path (information scent)

3. When we no longer smell those signs we retrace our path or find a new path entirely where the ‘smell’ is stronger, which we remember for next time (recursive learning) to better predict where/where not to go

Flickr Photogrpher : a walk on the wild side

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• Strong information scents are good at guiding users to the content they want/need

• Weak information scents cause visitors to spend more time evaluating options and increase the chance that they will select the wrong option and be forced to backtrack or leave entirely

Information Scent

Information scent is how people evaluate options they encounter looking for information on a site

Flickr Photogrpher : RaffertyEvans

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How Humans Find Information Online

Three ways of finding information

1.Browse

2.Ask

3.Search

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Browse (Navigate)

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Ask

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Search

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Where To Begin

Getting Started

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The Basics

Analyzing data

• Zipf Distribution

• Excel (spreadsheet) skills

• Low / no budget software

• No need for code or higher mathematics

Where to get data

• Log files

• Search / Web Analytics

A mindset / desire to improve your site, increase ROI, and deliver a better user experience

• Outside the scope of book :)

NOTE: everything I show you is 100% technology agnostic

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Zipf Distribution (The Long Tail)

Thick headThick head

Middle Torso

Middle Torso Long TailLong Tail

Flickr Photogrpher : hjallig

3 characteristics: head, torso, & tail

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Data: Search Logs (Google Search Appliance)

Critical elements in red

IP address, time/date stamp, query, and # of resultsXXX.XXX.XX.130 - - [10/Jul/2006:10:24:38 -0800] "GET /search?access=p&entqr=0&output=xml_no_dtd&sort=date%3AD%3AL%3Ad1&ud=1&site=AllSites&ie=UTF-8&client=www&oe=UTF-8&proxystylesheet=www&q=regional+transportation+governance+commission&ip=XXX.XXX.X.130 HTTP/1.1" 200 9718 62 0.17

XXX.XXX.X.104 - - [10/Jul/2006:10:25:46 -0800] "GET /search?access=p&entqr=0&output=xml_no_dtd&sort=date%3AD%3AL%3Ad1&ud=1&site=AllSites&ie=UTF-8&client=www&oe=UTF-8&proxystylesheet=www&q=lincense+plate&ip=XXX.XXX.X.104 HTTP/1.1" 200 971 0 0.02

XXX.XXX.X.104 - - [10/Jul/2006:10:25:48 -0800] "GET /search?access=p&entqr=0&output=xml_no_dtd&sort=date%3AD%3AL%3Ad1&ie=UTF-8&client=www&q=license+plate&ud=1&site=AllSites&spell=1&oe=UTF-8&proxystylesheet=www&ip=XXX.XXX.X.104 HTTP/1.1" 200 8283 146 0.16

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Data: Search Engine / Analytics

Data collection & options vary by vendor

Data collection is typically a separate step if you want to combine it with web analytics

• Google & Omniture are the only major analytic vendors to have built-in search data capabilities

(NOTE: Omniture’s Search is an add-on product)

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Improving Your Site Search

SSA Techniques & Search Behavior

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Flickr Image : Peter Morville Based on original image from “In Defense of Search” by Peter Morville

The Anatomy of Search: Search Components

Six (6) components comprise a single experience

1 2 3 4 5 6

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Component 1: Visitor (User)

When / Where Do Visitors Search?

Most often when a visitor becomes frustrated with browsing (i.e. your design, navigation, information architecture, whatever)

eCommerce and Government websites search is often the first choice

• This behavior also occurs when a visitor ‘knows’ what they are looking for

Some visitors use search as their first / main method

For more on this, see Peter Morville’s “Search Patterns” IA Summit 2008

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Component 1: Visitor (User) Search Analysis

When /where did your visitors initiate search from?

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Component 2: Query (Keywords)

When a visitor users onsite search they are speaking to you their Natural Language

• They are confessing their needs & desires to you hoping you can help them

This is your chance to have “Una Conversación Con Tus Consumidores”

• REMINDER: Conversation = Good. Monolog = BAD!

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Component 2: Keyword Analysis

What are your visitors looking for?

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Component 2: Keyword Analysis

Trends

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Component 3: Search Interface

Minimum: search query box & search button

Sometimes a filter will also be used

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Component 3: Search Interface Analysis

How many characters should your query box display?

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Component 4: Search Engine

While the Search Engine is an essential component…

• Options and details vary by vendor

• Common features: Ranking, best bets, stemming, facets, weighting, most frequent, etc.

• Opening the ‘black box’ is beyond scope of book -- and I promised you didn’t need to code & be a mathematician

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Component 5: Content

Search is about getting visitors to CONTENT

What type of content can you improve? (Hint: all of it)

• Metadata

• Navigation

• Labeling

• Ontology

• Taxonomy

SEO / SEM people LISTEN UP

• SEO is NO LONGER about being #1. It’s about getting visitors to your content!

• This is great place for UX & SEO to work together NOT against each other

• Perceived differences should be fixed

• Usability testing, copywriting, & SEO are about content bring them together

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Component 5: Content Analysis

Power of CONVERSATION: Are you listening or ignoring your visitors?

What content / products your visitors are looking for?

• Do you not have it? Or can’t they find it? Maybe you should add / remove products?

• Your visitors may be speaking a language you don’t understand

• Worse you may be trying to speak to them in a language they don’t understand

• Labels, navigation, taxonomy, metadata, SEO, SEM

Surveys: tie attitudinal & behavioral data together

Look for relationships between content

• Informs you ontology & metadata, as well as SEO / SEM

You can look at the data, but this is a GREAT place to explore and play with your data

http://4q.iperceptions.com

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Component 6: Results (SERP)

SERP (Search Engine Result Page)

The (inferred) quality of your results can be determined by:

• Refinement

• Null results

• Bounce Rate

• Where did they go?

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There are lots of great reports out there, here are a few I find critical for successful analysis…

Component 6: Results (SERP) Analysis

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Single Greatest Piece of Advice I Can Give Today…

Reports & data are fantastic and essential for analysis. But if you REALLY REALLY want to find out how well or poor your search engine is working all you have to do is… “walk a mile in your visitors shoes”.

MEANING: Take your visitors’ keywords and manually input them YOURSELF and experience what they did

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Internal Site Search KPIs

Top searches

Zero / null results

Search conversion

Search usage

Total Unique Searches

Results Pageviews / Search

# of Visits with Search

Search Exits (Bounce Rate)

Search Refinements

Time After Search

Search Depth

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Summary

Remember this…

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Summary

Search is not a ‘turnkey’ solution, it takes ongoing effort to get it write

Improving search improves customer satisfaction, site usability, SEO, SEM, ROI, and & overall user experience

Combine & use both qualitative & quantitative data for your analysis

6 components to search

• Visitor

• Keywords

• Search interface

• Search engine

• Content

• SERP (results)

Site Search book will be out in December

Marko Hurst

Muchas Gracias!Book: RosenfeldMedia.com/books/SearchAnalytics

Blog: MarkoHurst.com

Contact: Marko@MarkoHurst.com

Twitter: MarkoHurst