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I have a question about search on a web-based magazine. My site is about 110 pages in terms of content. Content is almost entirely articles and reviews. I have a search engine that crawls my site, so people can look up articles from within a simple search box on each page, and from a search page that you can access from my principal navbar. (if you want to know the provider's name and it's allowed by the moderator, I'll post it later on).
The capability is costing me 200 USD per quarter. When I test the search on my site, the provider's server is either down or it returns results that are lame. I have fine-tuned the engine as much as possible, but results remain slightly below expectations.
Now I've often read no search is better than a lousy one, and also that if your architecture or site structure is good--many links that offer various ways to get to the same page, basically--you can do without search as long as your site doesn't grow in the thousands of pages.
I was wondering if anyone on these forums had an idea about this. Do you use search capability on your site? If so, is it a service as mine? Are CGI scripts any good (I'm not a programmer, so I can't program one myself)? Is it true you can get rid of searhc altogether if the structure is good?
Any advise/help is much appreciated...
For example - you have about 100 articles?
Split them into about 6 - 10 categories.
eg, Blue widgets, red widgets, widget information, widget sales, widget repairs, etc
Within each of these sections you only have 10-15 articles.
If you a nav bar at the side/top/bottom of your page, put the main category headings on it. This is also good for helping PR around your site (i believe ;)).
Alternatively, you could probably find the code for a search function somewhere. Id imagine all it would require is a bit of a cut n paste job, so not too much in the way of programming (not my area of experise, perhaps someone else could clarify this?).
At the end of the day, 100 or so pages isnt worth paying for a search function when it is simple enough to create a user friendly navigational structure. Even if do want a search box for your users, then you can get it for nothing with a minimal amount of effort.
regards
JOAT
check it out at [xav.com ]
Actually, now you're mentioning brands: it's Atomz that I have. It's not free--at least if you want to be able to fine-tune it. It costs 200 USD per quarter. And I don't think it really work that great.
>>FDSE is the best, i believe that this forum uses it. it's highly configurable and free<<
I thought about that one but as it is free, I had my doubts. Now that a pro on this forum has said something good about it, I think I'm going to try it out.
>>If you have a clear logical directory type structure to your site, then a search isnt not entirely necessary.<<
That's what I had understood from various books and courses too. I believe my structure is pretty straightforward and I've made it 'scalable' so that I can start filling directories as needed. It might be a good idea to have a free search thing like the FDSE and if it sucks, there is always the structure for people to find their way around.
Thanks guys, you were a BIG help!
Erik
The issue with deploying a search engine over limited content is that some people dive for the search engine first thing - and then leave when they get poor results.
Last year I removed a site search function from a 400 page site for just this reason. It's now up to 1200 pages, still no site search and NO problems. In fact, we get regular compliments about how easy the site is to use.
If a website puts a sizable knowledge base online (such as WebmasterWorld) then a site search is nearly mandatory.
A related thread:
Making Site Search a Total Asset [webmasterworld.com]
One other consideration is whether you have pages that you want to lead your visitors through rather than just have them jump for the search box (and do a poor job at the search to boot). For instance, if your site depends on generating traffic for sponsors' sites you might want to use a directory structure and/or position certain links where they are most likely to be followed.
Now the only problem is: what's a good structure? I think I have one and I think it's easy to find your way through my site, but I'm not 100% sure.
Is there a way to tell from your logs? E;G; people clicking through to other areas of your site? Or is this purely skill-based?
Number one issue, IMO, is to work for a structure that makes sense to the user's mindset, which is not necessarily the site owner's way of viewing things.
There are really two separate issues here -
1. how to categorize the content
2. what to label each category
A big old stack of index cards can be a great tool at this point. Here's how I've done it in the past:
Write a specific content type on each card - with 110 pages you can actually write each Page Title on its own card. Add in anything you can easily foresee adding to the site as well.
Then start organizing. Or, even better, get a friend to try it for you: someone who is not already familiar with the site. Ask them to group the cards into related piles. Then (here's the challenge) come up with a short label to describe each pile or group. I often go through 10 or more sets of category labels before it feels like it's handled.
Once you think you've got a solid overall structure figured out, then find another stranger to the website and ask them to help (or pay them, whatever works). Put out a set of cards with your new labels on them and see if your helper can make sense of the category labels and sort everything into the piles that you intended.
Repeat over and over until well cooked.
It's worth doing this procedure very thoroughly. One side benefit is that you may come up with ideas for new content that your visitors are already looking for.
And two years from now, when your new content is still sliding into your website structure with nary a complaint, you'll be glad you did it right!
