How does your Site Search Perform?
December 17, 2009 
1 Comment
Have you ever been on a site where the site search was not performing up to your expectations? Was it frustrating trying to find everything that you were looking for because the software was just not good or just under performing? Have you looked at the site search functionality on your website lately?
One of the top reasons visitors leave sites is due to a bad site search function or no site search at all. These days in Ecommerce, every site needs to have some search functionality in order to survive. Most shopping cart software providers already offer a site search function built in when you purchase the cart. While this is better than not having one at all, most of them are far below where they should be in order to be effective. Most people visiting sites are most likely going to use your site search one. If it is not good or doesn’t provide accurate results, then you can expect to lose that visitor and the chance to make them into a customer. Site Search is important, so everyone with a website needs to take it seriously.
If your site search is under performing, think about replacing it with another software package, or at least bulk it up with more features. The best site search platforms out there offer multiple ways to filter results, which in turn results in a higher conversion rate. If you do not have the technical expertise to manipulate your site search function yourself, then think about outsourcing the code development, or at least check out Site Search Providers. One of the best in the industry is SLI Systems. They provide a great package that can integrate into your site to make it look seamless. Their software gets rave reviews from other ecommerce retailers that use it because it provides the function it was intended to do, search your site! They have so many ways to perform searches as well as maximize your site searches for SEO benefit. Not only will you get a better search platform and most likely more conversions, but also the added benefit of SEO on your site search terms that customers are using. A few other services that are worth mentioning are the new Google Site Search function. Everyone knows that Google knows searching, and you can get it without any google logos to brand it as your own. Celebros is another good service along with Omniture Site Search. A company called Nextopia is a good place to look if you are just in Ecommerce because that is what their site search is geared toward. They are probably the most cost effective in the ecommerce site search space, but might not be what you need.
Upgrading to a new site search platform can and most likely will be expensive, but you have to think about the future and how many more transactions you could bring in due to a more advanced and accurate site search function. Most retailers do not realize how much their site search affects their sales or goals, but they have a heavy influence. Most 3rd party site search platforms provide some quality analytics that can help you know which terms are performing and which are not. This allows you to make better choices on which items you can feature or work on SEO in order to increase natural rankings. If you are on the fence as to what might help your site conversion, check out upgrading your site search functionality and you will be pleasantly surprised.
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