Onsite search is a powerful way to find what your customers are looking for. By optimizing the results, look and feel and design of your onsite search, you can multiply conversions and engagement.

1. OPTIMIZE YOUR ON-SITE SEARCH
Help your customers find exactly what they’re looking for.
JP Sherman
Red Hat’s Manager of Search & Findability
Tweets @jpsherman

2. Findability is how your customers find what they’re looking for.
UNDERSTANDING THE CORE ASPECTS OF
SEARCH AND FINDABILITY
➔ The Four Pillars of On-Site Search Optimization
◆ Measurement
◆ SERP Structure
◆ SERP UI/UX
◆ Result Set Quality

3. BUT FIRST, A SHOW OF HANDS
SEO/ Paid Search
How many people regularly use search data to make decisions?
Onsite Search

4. STUDIES SHOW
How many companies regularly use search data to make decisions?
Between 15% and 20% of large companies
dedicate resources to on-site search. Smaller
businesses range from 0% to 4%
Six-month-old infants can only hold one thing
in memory.
Having more narcissists on a team is better for
generating creative outcomes.
The more relaxed you are when you enter a
store, the more money you’ll spend.
The ruder someone acts, the more convinced
observers become that he or she is
powerful.
Shorter sleep duration is associated with
increased susceptibility to the common
cold.
King penguins are attracted to the colors on
each other’s beaks, including colors
humans can’t see.

5. ABOUT YOUR CUSTOMERS
Engaged. Invested. Curious. In an Active Decision Phase. Trusting. Convinced.
WHO ARE THEY?
WHAT ARE THEY MORE LIKELY TO DO?

6. AND YET CUSTOMERS WHO SEARCH ARE...
Engaged. Invested. Curious. In an Active Decision Phase. Trusting. Convinced.
❏ They are 5x - 6x more likely to convert
❏ They are more likely to share content
❏ They are more likely to stay on-site longer
❏ They are more likely to return
❏ They are more likely to recognize brand

7. DIFFERENTIATING BETWEEN DATA & STORY
The measurements are simple to understand, but it’s the nuance that tells the story
Data is the characters in
the story
What these characters
(data) do IS the story.

8. UNDERSTANDING INTENT & BEHAVIOR
The measurements are simple to understand, but it’s the nuance that tells the story
Let’s Start Where We Always Start
Keywords

9. UNDERSTANDING INTENT & BEHAVIOR
The measurements are simple to understand, but it’s the nuance that tells the story
Keywords
High Freq/ Low
Intent
Low Freq/ High
Intent
Long Tail Unicorns
Popular but
vague keywords
Rare but specific
keywords
Specific terms >
3 or 4 words
Queries that happen
once in a given time-
frame
These are the most common types of queries that happen in on-site search. By understanding the
types of queries you have, you can start tailoring the search experience to the type of query.

10. UNDERSTANDING INTENT & BEHAVIOR
The measurements are simple to understand, but it’s the nuance that tells the story
Keywords
High Frequency/
Low Intent
Low Frequency/
High Intent
Long Tail
Unicorns
Clicks
Conversions
No Clicks
Position
CTR
Conversion
Rate
Consumption
Rate
Keyword Types Metrics Calculated Metrics
Negative CTR

11. UNDERSTANDING INTENT & BEHAVIOR
The measurements are simple to understand, but it’s the nuance that tells the story
Keywords High Freq/ Low Intent
Example Queries:
● Bikes
● Software
● Smart phones
● College
● Finland
● Books
● Laptops
● Elections
This is the top of the
funnel search behavior.
User Intent Isn’t Specific
● Information
● Ideas
● Knowledge
● Type Selection
● Familiarity
● Definitions
● Topic Review

12. UNDERSTANDING INTENT & BEHAVIOR
The measurements are simple to understand, but it’s the nuance that tells the story
Keywords Low Freq/ High Intent
Example Queries:
● Download latest iTunes
● Stream The Clash
● Pictures of cats in baskets
● Vietnamese food near me
● Spicy vegan taco recipes
● Supernatural monsters that
drink human blood
● Latin name for ring-tailed
lemur
● What does coulrophobia
mean?
There is no ambiguity in
the searchers’ intent.
User Intent Is Specific
● Take an action
● View specific thing
● Learn specific thing
● List based content
● Answers to a
specific question

13. UNDERSTANDING INTENT & BEHAVIOR
The measurements are simple to understand, but it’s the nuance that tells the story
Keywords Long Tail
Long tail keywords are those three and four keyword phrases
which are very, very specific to whatever you are selling.

14. UNDERSTANDING INTENT & BEHAVIOR
The measurements are simple to understand, but it’s the nuance that tells the story
Keywords Unicorns
Unicorns are keywords that appear once in a given time-
frame.
● On average, 50% to 60% of queries are unicorns
● Unicorn queries are useful to gain quick wins. For
queries that make sense, the identification of a
unicorn can lead to content that will immediately fulfill
that search.
● One caveat, unicorn terms can frequently be typos,
nonsense words or long copied/ pasted text

15. UNDERSTANDING INTENT & BEHAVIOR
The measurements are simple to understand, but it’s the nuance that tells the story
Metrics CTR CTR in on-site search measures clicks from SERP
● CTR’s are a great way to
measure the overall
success of your on-site
search
● Sometimes, you might see
a CTR on a keyword
greater than 100%
● This means that the user
has opened up links in new
tabs.

16. UNDERSTANDING INTENT & BEHAVIOR
The measurements are simple to understand, but it’s the nuance that tells the story
Metrics Conversion Rate Consumption Ratevs
Conversions
A quantifiable action taken.
Conversions can be purchases, sign-
ups, downloads or something else.
Always binary.
Consumptions
A qualitative measurement of content.
It’s is a spectrum that measures how
much of the content has been
consumed.

17. UNDERSTANDING INTENT & BEHAVIOR
The measurements are simple to understand, but it’s the nuance that tells the story
Metrics No Results No Clicksvs
No Results
When a query is performed and
nothing matches the query
No Clicks
The inverse of click throughs

18. WHEN SERPS FAIL
Searches will fail, your customers will look for strange things - help them out a bit.
Users will experience a search failure.
Giving users a way to refine, tips to search
again, a place for feedback will improve
the search experience.
Users w/out assistance re-searched 33%
Users w/ assistance re-searched 59%

19. WHEN SERPS FAIL
Searches will fail, your customers will look for strange things - help them out a bit.
Metrics
No Clicks
Failure
means you
can ask for
more
information
!

20. WHEN SERPS FAIL
Searches will fail, your customers will look for strange things - help them out a bit.
Metrics
No Clicks

21. WHEN SERPS FAIL
Searches will fail, your customers will look for strange things - help them out a bit.
Metrics
No Clicks
Wait, What?

22. AUTOSUGGEST CAN HELP FILTER INTENT
The SERP & the Snippet Can be Magnetic to Clicks When Showing Value
Starting with the Search
Experience

23. EVEN WHEN THE USER DOESN’T KNOW
“CORRECT” PHRASE
The SERP & the Snippet Can be Magnetic to Clicks When Showing Value
Auto-Suggest
Customer Focused
Immediately gives the user options
helping fix any “wonky” searches
Business Focused
You can add keymatches or suggestions
based off of the query entered

24. AUTOSUGGEST CAN HELP FILTER INTENT
The SERP & the Snippet Can be Magnetic to Clicks When Showing Value
Autosuggest vs.
Non Autosuggest
Having
autosuggest can
increase CTR &
Conversion
CTR: 42%
CR: 3.9%

25. AUTOSUGGEST CAN HELP FILTER INTENT
The SERP & the Snippet Can be Magnetic to Clicks When Showing Value
Autosuggest vs.
Non Autosuggest
Having
autosuggest can
increase CTR &
Conversion
CTR: 57%
CR: 5.1%

26. CONTEXTUALIZE INFORMATION IN THE UI
If the search results aren’t perfect, adding contextual information in the UI can help the user

27. KNOWLEDGE GRAPHS CAN
CONTEXTUALIZE
The SERP & the Snippet Can be Magnetic to Clicks When Showing Value
Knowledge Graphs
High Volume/ Low
Intent
Allows the user to
immediately focus on
what their intent is
when it’s not clear in
the query.

28. OH… RIGHT… MOBILE MATTERS
The SERP & the Snippet Can be Magnetic to Clicks When Showing Value
Don’t Forget Mobile

29. DISAMBIGUATION FOR SIMILAR SEARCHES
Understand Where Your Customers Primarily Interact With You.

30. RIGHT... AGAIN WITH THE MOBILE.
Understand Where Your Customers Primarily Interact With You.

31. TEN BLUE LINKS MAY NOT EVEN WORK
Some products lend themselves to be more visual, or more comparative.

32. BLENDED SEARCH RESULTS
Just display all the things

33. OF COURSE, I’M GOING TO TELL YOU TO
TEST IT
Naturally… but what do I look at to see if it’s a good test?
CTR
Conversion
Rate
Accessed
Content
Watch These Metrics
Refinements
Does the experimental group have a higher CTR? Implying Value
Are there more purchases or other conversion events?
Does more content get viewed after a search is performed?
Do people perform less searches after an initial search?
Mobile Is there a significant difference in these metrics from mobile devices?

34. IF YOU REALLY WANT TO BE FANCY
It’s a great way to measure search quality, but requires decent development changes.
To deliver the right content quickly to the right person who is searching your site.
Goal
Measure: Time from Query to Conversion/ Consumption
1st
Query
1st
Click
Pogostick
1st
Refinement
2nd
Click
conversion?
2nd
Refinement

35. KEY TAKEAWAYS TO IMPROVE ONSITE
SEARCH
Make a plan, make a change every month, measure it & repeat.
It’s not that hard
Change the Snippet
Change the SERP design
Add Contextual Information
Measure, Measure, Measure
Don’t forget, mobile is unique

36. THANK YOU
Please feel free to talk to me if you happen to run into me.
Find me on Twitter @jpsherman