» Adding Search Facility to the Site

Adding Search Facility to the Site - May 2, 2008

Usability is a quality attribute. On the web, it is a necessary condition for survival. If a website is difficult to use the number of visitors start decreasing. It strongly affects the number of return visits.

There are many factors involved to improve a website’s usability. We have discussed website navigation before. Today I will discuss adding a search facility to the site. It is recommended to have a search facility if a website has a large number of pages and covers a wide variety of topics.

Having your own search engine helps visitors to find what they are looking for, without going to different pages. Users just need to type in the keywords for what they are looking and they should be shown the exact pages on the website.

Study shows that more than half of web users are search-dominant, which means they prefer to use a search box to find what they are looking for rather than navigating through links.

Here are some guidelines to be considered when setting a search facility on your site.

Search function should be easily available on every page of the website.
It is recommended to have a search box on each page rather than a link to the search page. If it’s not possible to have it on each page at least it should be on your home page.
The search box should be placed in an easy to find location. Based on observations it is recommended to have it on top right corner of the page.
Try to make a search box wide enough to accommodate the user’s queries.

Finally, please note that both search facility and navigation are important for the website’s usability.

Nadeem
SEO Programmer