Simple advice for complex search solutions

When they work as designed, search applications are wonderful, delivering up-to-date information that helps avoid faulty decisions. But getting your search infrastructure tuned to this point takes forethought and precise execution. Experts offer advice for putting your enterprise search on the right course.

Maximize options. Searches are likely to miss the mark if users rely solely on Web sites. Employees should also have access to valuable content in an array of databases, enterprise applications, document libraries, e-mail servers’ public folders, file servers, and discussion groups.

Make the search field prominent. Make it easy to search from anywhere on your intranet and public Web site. Put a search box — or at least a search link — in a prominent spot on every page.

Keep it simple. Keep your search page clean and inviting. Also, make sure you include visual clues, such as multiline fields, to inform users that they can type in more than a few keywords. Similarly, the results pages should limit extraneous images and links, while offering clear clues to allow users to quickly switch results to different formats, such as navigation.

Streamline and automate. Information is of little value locked in employees’ heads. So, make the process of publishing documents to portals as easy as saving to the desktop. Then, eliminate as many follow-up steps as possible.

Be protected. Don’t be timid about crawling secure Web content, restricted databases, and premium services such as LexisNexis and Factiva. But the content provider should provide the proper authentication capabilities to limit protected content to authorized users.

Consider SSO (single sign-on). An SSO architecture allows users to investigate the content of all online information sources with a single query. The time savings can add up.

Build for speed. Not only should results of protected content be returned fast, but overall search response needs to be swift. This keeps users happy and encourages visitors to return to your site more often.

Encourage feedback. Finally, don’t assume your search is functioning at its greatest potential based on limited testing. Solicit feedback from end-users. Find out what they like about your search implementation and what could be improved, and act on the comments when appropriate.