Website Analysis: Site search needs a limited scope?

Limiting the search scope of a site can achieve better search results, but sometimes it can backfire.

There are usually two ways to do this: manually select ranges and automatically generate ranges. Such as

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Brookings, Edu: Opens the menu options drop-down search box for the user to select a search scope.

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Googleshopping Express: Auto-Generate range: When a user enters a search condition, the search box automatically displays the relevant content.

Business sites are often combined in two ways, and information-based sites usually choose only one of them.

The third, is a very rare way to use two search boxes on a page to limit the scope of the search. Each option will result in a different search result. (This approach often has drawbacks, but is very effective for internal employee Address book searches):

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Hunter, CUNY, Edu: Using two search boxes on the same page will increase the selection burden for the user, assuming they notice that two search boxes are present and stop thinking, determining the type of information each search box enters, and many users will only select one to search.

This article mainly introduces some problems in the search box, and how to avoid these problems in the design.

Good intentions cause bad results

The site limits the scope of the search to allow users to find the information they want to query more quickly. In theory, the search scope ensures that users can accurately obtain the desired search results by pre-qualifying the search area. This proactive approach, filtering out irrelevant content and quickly getting users to get search results sounds like a good idea, don't worry.

When the user does not know that his search is actually limited to the content of the search, the results are often tragic. The best result is that users will be tired and leave a bad impression on the site by using keywords to filter the information they want in the search results listed. In the worst-case scenario, users will think that the site doesn't have the answers they want to search for or the product they're looking for, and they'll abandon the site (and search for competitors).

1, the user wants to search the scope is the entire website

The content that the user wants to enter in the search box can be searched all over the area on your website and get relevant results. For the vast majority of people, any information on your site should be part of their search.

The user's understanding of the entire site is based on their psychological model of the site or organization. For example, for example, some visitors to a website may think that the University of Pennsylvania Business School (Wharton) is the University of Pennsylvania. Some would argue that the University of Pennsylvania Business School is part of the University of Pennsylvania. This is mainly dependent on the browser's psychological model, mainly to see whether their expectation is to conduct a search throughout the University of Pennsylvania or only in business schools, the results are different. So, how to make users understand your content when designing your website is to conduct user experience research. But testing your site's search results is a simple start.

Limiting the scope of the search is a big mistake because the user did not make the choice at first. Most people don't take the time to study whether the results of a search are just part of the results, because users don't think that some search results are filtered out.

Some users even choose search scopes often forget that they have limited the results of the search, so users often ignore the previously selected range when returning to the search box. Especially in websites that offer a wide variety of products, people will do one search after another without remembering or realizing that they are just in a specific search area.

Recommendation: Search scopes always set "search all", any scope search should be set to the widest category, should include the entire site. Search should also include links to information content in addition to products (delivery options, return policies, business hours, contact information, etc.).

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Sainsburys, CO, UK (one of the largest supermarkets in the UK) because of the search box settings, the search for goods may not attract the attention of consumers. What's worse is that there are only two types of drop-down options, which does not mean that the company sells a full range of products, and consumers who want to find information such as business hours can only resign themselves to

Website Analysis: Site search needs a limited scope?