Source : http://www.trafficplusseo.com/
By : Traffic + SEO
Category : Virtual Social Media
Posted By : Local SEO in Florida
According to “The State of Retailing Online 7.0,” a study by Cambridge, MA-based Forrester Research, 48% of visitors use the search function when visiting an e-commerce site, as opposed to finding merchandise by drilling down or using other navigational tools. And given that use of onsite search has risen 50% during the past few years, according to David Schatsky, senior vice president of New York-based Jupiter Research, it's safe to say that online merchants would be wise to invest in improving their onsite search functions with better dictionaries and thesauri and additional options.
The first step in creating a successful search function is to determine if the current search is meeting the needs of site visitors. This entails comparing conversion rates for your overall site and for your site's search function to those of other online retailers, says Rich Stendardo, retail solutions manager at Cambridge, MA-based search technology provider Endeca. Looking at the average conversion rate of specific search terms used by consumers on your site, Stendardo says, can also help you assess if proper search priorities are in place.
According to DoubleClick's November 2004 “E-Commerce Site Trend Report,” the average conversion rate for search-driven purchases was 2.1% in the third quarter of 2004, up from 1.5% the previous third quarter. The overall site conversion rate for the third quarter of 2004 was 4.6%. During the same period, 9.3% of all sales came via search, compared with 6.6% a year earlier.
If you find that your onsite search is falling short, chances are it's because of one or more rather common problems. The good news: These problems are easy to fix.
PROBLEM 1 The search function doesn't retrieve all the applicable matches — or it retrieves too many.
A recent search on Amazon.com for “evening dress” retrieved a whopping 6,000 results, including watches, books about dresses, and a My Little Pony toy as well as actual dresses. Another recent search, on Sundance Catalog's site, for “blue jeans” retrieved two results — neither of which was a pair of pants. Interestingly, both problems most likely have the same cause: a weak dictionary and thesaurus. Overly broad match algorithms (in which a term is deemed a match regardless of context or without regard for restrictive criteria) can make matters worse, as can a search function that draws results based on only a handful of product attributes or data fields.
When online toys merchant eToys launched in 1999, it used a basic out-of-the-box search function. Brian Bass, director of product development for Denver-based eToys, says that the search function's dictionary included no more than 600 words and was updated only a few times each year to include commonly misspelled words. In addition, the search function drew results based only on four attributes (product name, manufacturer, and short and long descriptions). As a result, eToys' search function had difficulty retrieving product results because of its limited dictionary — though at times it retrieved too many because of its broad keyword recognition.
By : Traffic + SEO
Category : Virtual Social Media
Posted By : Local SEO in Florida
 |
| Website Maintenance |
Most of the buzz about online search focuses on search engine marketing. But onsite search — the effectiveness and user-friendliness of your Website's search function — is also an essential part of doing business online.
According to “The State of Retailing Online 7.0,” a study by Cambridge, MA-based Forrester Research, 48% of visitors use the search function when visiting an e-commerce site, as opposed to finding merchandise by drilling down or using other navigational tools. And given that use of onsite search has risen 50% during the past few years, according to David Schatsky, senior vice president of New York-based Jupiter Research, it's safe to say that online merchants would be wise to invest in improving their onsite search functions with better dictionaries and thesauri and additional options.
The first step in creating a successful search function is to determine if the current search is meeting the needs of site visitors. This entails comparing conversion rates for your overall site and for your site's search function to those of other online retailers, says Rich Stendardo, retail solutions manager at Cambridge, MA-based search technology provider Endeca. Looking at the average conversion rate of specific search terms used by consumers on your site, Stendardo says, can also help you assess if proper search priorities are in place.
According to DoubleClick's November 2004 “E-Commerce Site Trend Report,” the average conversion rate for search-driven purchases was 2.1% in the third quarter of 2004, up from 1.5% the previous third quarter. The overall site conversion rate for the third quarter of 2004 was 4.6%. During the same period, 9.3% of all sales came via search, compared with 6.6% a year earlier.
If you find that your onsite search is falling short, chances are it's because of one or more rather common problems. The good news: These problems are easy to fix.
PROBLEM 1 The search function doesn't retrieve all the applicable matches — or it retrieves too many.
A recent search on Amazon.com for “evening dress” retrieved a whopping 6,000 results, including watches, books about dresses, and a My Little Pony toy as well as actual dresses. Another recent search, on Sundance Catalog's site, for “blue jeans” retrieved two results — neither of which was a pair of pants. Interestingly, both problems most likely have the same cause: a weak dictionary and thesaurus. Overly broad match algorithms (in which a term is deemed a match regardless of context or without regard for restrictive criteria) can make matters worse, as can a search function that draws results based on only a handful of product attributes or data fields.
When online toys merchant eToys launched in 1999, it used a basic out-of-the-box search function. Brian Bass, director of product development for Denver-based eToys, says that the search function's dictionary included no more than 600 words and was updated only a few times each year to include commonly misspelled words. In addition, the search function drew results based only on four attributes (product name, manufacturer, and short and long descriptions). As a result, eToys' search function had difficulty retrieving product results because of its limited dictionary — though at times it retrieved too many because of its broad keyword recognition.
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