Search & Sensibility

Four tales of searchSept 2008

Louisa CameronSenior Experience Architect, USiT

News Digital Media

Search is unique, depending on the context

“… a widespread and mistaken perception that search is little more than a white search box adorned with the occasional appealing graphics”

Marc Quantrill

Source: MAD Technology Weekly UK, Aug 2008

Searchers have different needs

“When I find an article I like, I find myself clicking through all the related stuff”

“It’s not like I’m looking for a job, but if something better comes along…”

It is important to understand behaviour patterns

“After asking thousands of people to think about how they search, only one thing has been consistent in our findings. People don’t really know.”

Source: Google Eye Tracking report, Enquiro, Eyetools and Did-It, July 2005

Job seeker personas

1. Career basedLooking for dream job.

2. Change basedSeeking work-life balance.

3. Needs basedReturn to work mother looking for local job.

Behaviour patterns of job seekers

1. Not brand loyal2. Search using set criteria3. Search every 3 days when active4. Need to refine within results5. Look at 5 or 6 pages of results

1. Job seekers are not brand loyal

• For general search, people probably use same search engine every time they search

• There is an argument for designing similar to competitors to create a consistent experience

2. Job seekers search using a set of criteria

Is advanced search necessary?

"Advanced search is the ugly child of interface design - always included, but never loved."

Stephen Turbek

Source: Boxes and Arrows, Jan 2008

Is advanced search necessary?

3. Job seekers refine within results

3. Job seekers refine within results

4. Active job seekers visit every 3 days

• Search on last 3 days• Save search• Show new listings

5. Job seekers look at 5 or 6 pages of results

In summary …

“Designers can better cater to what appears to be chaos: make available those capabilities that best support the range of known behaviorpatterns for your target personas”

John Ferrara

Source: Boxes and Arrows, Jan 2008

1

Angus FraserSenior Experience Architect, USiT

News Digital Media

Local SearchTale 2/4

Home page Results page

Interesting details

! Arrangement of fields & buttons

! Helping user’s construct better queries

! Encouraging Discovery

Placement of search fields

-“What can I do here? I’m not sure what kind of site this is”

Strong domain conventions

Conflicting convention

-“… the login fields here are a waste of space”

The “Search” button

Jakob Nielsen (http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20050509.html)

“Don't use a 'Search' button for parametric search”

Search

Improving queries: Auto-suggest

Improving Queries: Auto-history

Encouraging discovery

Going with the flow

“Short head” with multiple faces

Guided SearchTale 3/4

Scott BryantSenior Experience Architect, USiT

News Digital Media

4 key things

1. What do we mean by guided search?2. The car buying process & search3. Features of guided search4. Multi-selection search scenario

What do we mean by guided search?

• A “Funnel"• More than just facets• Exploratory search• Provides “information

scent”• Predictive of users

previous and next steps

• Navigation paths built on structured data

98,106 cars online

“right car for you”

(Business goal #1)

No zero results(Business goal #2)

What we know about our users

• They don’t know what type of car they want or what their money can buy

• The majority search for used cars, but are after recent models

• Are seeking specific advice

1.Cars for sale

2.Car Specifications

3.Car Values

4.Dealer Search

5.Cars for sale –Guided search on mobile

Features of Guided Search Interface

Guided Search:• Great for people who have an idea what they want

• Option to do a new and used combined search

• Advanced options available, i.e. number of seats, power..

Browse:

• Great for people who are unsure of what they are looking for

• The default will include new and used cars

• Additional options available, i.e. transmission

ResultsFeaturesIndication of what has been searched. Remove to expand

Research and reviews relevant to your search

Sets of standard expanded refinement dimensions

Secondary set of further refinement dimensions

Information rich summary of results

Comparing cars & multi-select

Final thoughts

The challenge for designing for guided search comes down to balancing:

• Users information needs• Constraints/Flexibility of structured data• Context for use (search scenarios)

And keeping a complex system simple

Chris KhalilSenior Experience Architect, USiT

News Digital Media

Media SearchTale 4/4

What’s it all about?

1. Homepage is most important page?2. Content Page 3. Using search to feed search4. Anatomy of a Content Page5. Finish

Traffic – Last Month

Page Impressions: 94,913,965

The home page accounts for less than half of that

that’s a lot of traffic

From where

Your Site

Search enginesEmail

Instant MessageBlogs

Aggregators

Social Network SitesOther Sites

Ecology

Pages don’t exist solely in the context of your IA

Search is really good nowadays

Content Page is the new Homepage

How to drive traffic from search

Using search

news.com.au Storypage

A cul-de-sac

Interesting content

Limited exit points

Not very contextual

There’s loads here

New news.com.au Storypage

Most Related Links

I’ve read enough, offer me somewhere else-News grazer

What now?

Reward me for getting this far- News hunter

Contextual LinkingIf you liked that, then you might like this

Other topics

Body Topic Links

More Topics Click here

Tell me more…

What’s been going on with Qantas?

What search thinks of Qantas

Is this most relevant or most articles?

So, is it working?

Early signs are positive

Significant uplift in PI’s

The real value of search

Questions or Suggestions?

• Louisa Cameron – Senior Experience Architect, CareerOne.com.au

• Angus Fraser – Senior Experience Architect, TrueLocal.com.au

• Scott Bryant - Senior Experience Architect, CarsGuide.com.au

• Chris Khalil – Senior Experience Architect, news.com.au