This is a two-part series that explores the need to optimize the internal website search experience and looks for factors that can help enhance the customer experience and accelerate site conversions with Sitecore 10. In the first blog, we will be talking about the “Definitive guide - Need of Optimizing Website Search Experience“.
Sitecore 10 brings a brand-new set of options for a better user expertise. It presents the extended content manager, Horizon, replaces the content editor and knowledge editor and integrates with SXA. Horizon permits for content management.
Marketing group’s combination of the media content from Content promoting Platform (CMP) and Digital plus Management (DAM) makes content management easier. For instance, the taxonomy information created in Content Hub may be persistently distributed to different Sitecore channels.
Now, you'll be able to publish and arrange content things from the command and synchronize all changes mechanically.
Sitecore 10 has deprecated azure search and currently suggests operating with Solr or coveo.
Sitecore 10 has another basic personalization rules to XM.
Sitecore 10 makes analytics reports valuable by adding a segmentation filter. When using Sitecore 10 you’ll be able to apply a spread of segmentation rules to your audience, dividing it into teams, and acquire perceptive reports concerning every cluster.
The promoting Automation tool has redefined rules that has improved its usability. Moreover, it’s added another new rule specializing in client birthdays.
Some Sitecore 10 updates concern information privacy that is crucial for the new compliances. This method of knowledge assortment via Sitecore Forms has become a compliant with the GDPR.
Need for optimizing the search experience
Websites should give users convenient ways to search for the information they seek as quickly finding an attorney in their desired practice area and location. The site search should be effectively designed to increase their site-wide engagement and conversions.
Between diverse data, there is a greater need for enhanced search capabilities at every step of the search experience. The perfect search guides the user through point to point data as required. The search process involves four basic levels starting from searching for a specific page of interest to searching for a website and then shifting to set of results from where the user can utilize the search depending on the requirement.
Reasons for optimizing website search
Finding relevant information such as attorneys, articles, or practice areas Visitors often turn to your website search when they are unable to locate the information that they need on your site. By entering a query in the search box and subsequent information (if required), they have a better chance of finding the information that they want on your website.
Boosting certain content and categories to top
On an insurance website, visitors may prefer to view producers’ areas based on their demographic location. It is important to bring certain search results on top for different kinds of search queries based on various rules and parameters that align with the business of the website.
Boosting thought leadership content by date
Visitors generally prefer viewing the latest blogs, news, publications, etc., over older entries.
Promoting popular content such as attorneys, services or recent events based on user activity
Visitors on insurance firm websites might be looking up articles or gathering information about a specific policy/practice area, or most importantly they may be looking for producers or specialist. Because customers use website search to tell you exactly what they are looking for, the search function can help you create an effective content strategy and promote popular information they seek across the website.
Improve bounce rates and time on site
Optimized website search can keep visitors on your site for longer by promptly providing them the information they need. If your site search can provide the visitors what they need, it can result in lower bounce rates for individual keywords as well as the entire site.
Improving site conversions and customer engagement
Lowered bounce rates and increased time on site improves customer engagement and increases the chance of a quality conversion.
The perfect formula of website search helps in converting potential leads to customers and is a key to staying competitive in the market.
Searches primarily are of two types - external site search and internal website search.
External site search
External site search is all about a customer looking for specific information via search engines such as Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc. and ultimately arriving on your website. Search engine optimization (SEO) can help a company produce better and enhanced website ranking. Ranking is crucial since most users do not opt to review more than two search pages. Therefore, the higher your website ranks are, the better are your chances of attracting a potential customer and eventually conducting a sale. Search strategies included in SEO are well developed and help digital marketers to capture the user’s attention and persuade to opt for their website. The best way to enhance website rankings is to use commonly used unique keywords in the page URL and the header tags.
Today, every website focusses on search engine optimization (SEO) practices to improve the number of visitors on its webpages. This helps in increasing the customer base and leading to revenue generation.
Internal website search
This is about the search functionality within the website itself. The site search functionality needs to be continually developed to deliver maximum results. The search option should not only extract multiple forms of data including text, video, images, etc., also enable a user to enjoy features such as type-ahead, auto-complete, and auto suggest features. It should be able to provide the user suggestions/corrections based on the requirement, which can be pulled in the form of a list. The search box should be able to understand what the user is looking for. This can enhance the visibility of your content as well as make your website experience for the customer enjoyable.
Conclusion
With this we have covered all the points that are needed for enhancing the search experience and making it user friendly and easy to navigate.
Watch out for the continuation of the search optimization in our next blog: ”Optimizing the Website Search Experience”.
