On-Site Search

Sachin Kamdar strongly endorses any web marketer offering on-site search . He suggests that site search provides a great deal of user friendliness and engagement.

Kamdar recommends that old content be retained unless there is a pressing reason for its removal. He provides the example of hardware firms which keep old device driver software available on their sites as a convenience for those with legacy equipment. With a good search tool, this content can have a minimal impact on site usability, but continue to make older content available.

Kamdar cites a conversation with SitePoint content editor Ophélie Lechat, who makes the following observation:

Visitors who use site search tend to view five times more pages than visitors who don’t, and they spend six minutes longer on our site.... On-site search lets us get into the minds of our visitors and helps us fill in the gaps where we’re not providing exactly the right kind of content.

-DD