Making the most of your search

External search engines

With search engine trends changing it affects peoples view on how search engines work. Ideally all website search functions should try to keep up with how the big boys do it. Google instant provides a good example of a recent change.

It effectively cuts down the amount of keywords people type in by instantly showing results. This means all website search functions should also show relevant content for less keywords typed in.

Building up your searches strength…

To improve the conversion rates and click through of content on your website you should analyse the market you’re targeting. Who is your target audience, how do they use the internet and what do they search for. Once you have acquired this information you can adjust your search accordingly by firstly making sure all of your main keywords and product related keywords produce the correct results. The target audience can help you target what their looking for and how they are presented the information. For example if your target audience are primarily 60+ it would be a good idea to research what sort of language they use in regards to the keywords they type in – as in comparison to 16-18 year olds the language they use could be shorter slang related terms.

Top tips for ecommerce website searches:

• Build customer confidence with product reviews
• Provide mouse over image enlargement
• Grow the use of video’s within searches
• A sorting function such as A-Z is always a good practice for filtering results
• Good to have an ‘add to cart’ from the search results for price comparison users
• Good to have a ‘wish list’ feature as it can provide return visits for people that like to shop around before committing to the purchase

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