Search Engine Trends

One of the most important pages in a search experience, the search result page, can deeply impact conversion rates. Here I’ll go through different search engine tactics with the help from Smashing Magazine’s article on search engine trends. By going through a wide variety of websites we can conclude some of the best practices from examples other sites have set.

• Google
  • Search box, with searched words, remains prominent at top
  • Option to view an “advanced” search page
  • Total number of results shown at top
  • Ajax-driven auto-complete for typed follow-up searches
  • Sponsored links at top and right
  • Paginated results
  • Results titles are large, bold, and hyperlinked
  • Searched words are shown in bold in a page snippet, in context
  • URLs shown in a different color under each result
  • Each result allows options to view “similar” and “cached”
  • Visited links are in a different color
  • Related search phrases listed at bottom
  • Search box with search terms repeated at the bottom
  • “Show options” link opens a sidebar for further filtering of the results
• Bing
  • Very similar to google but has some differences
  • Lists the user’s “search history” in the sidebar
  • The history to be cleared or turned off
  • The search history remains intact
  • Pagination unit at the bottom of the results page is more user-friendly
  • Pagination rolls over when moused
• Yahoo
  • Yahoo’s search results page includes a couple of JavaScript-driven enhancements
  • Ajax-driven slide-down unit that appears below the search box when a search query is being typed
  • “Search Pad” which allows the user to record notes on searches
  • “SearchScan” to help protect from harmful websites
• Youtube
  • Easily-accessible filtering options near the top of the search results
  • YouTube search result page lists detailed information
    • Including a thumbnail preview
    • Running time of the clip
    • User rating
    • And age
    • Also if a particular item is part of a series
• Twitter
  • Offers a very clean, intuitive JavaScript-driven interface that includes “Realtime” results
  • Their page also offers a list of “Trending topics” and a “Search tip”
  • Additionally, Twitter gives the user the option to refresh the page after it detects additional results in real time
• Digg
  • Each result on the Digg search results page includes the number of comments that have been posted for that particular story
  • In addition to other features that are unique to Digg, including “share” and “bury”
• Delicious
  • Lists search results in a very simple, list format that includes tags associated with each result
  • Plus the number of times the result has been bookmarked
• Amazon
  • Allows for the results to be sorted based on a variety of methods, including “Bestselling” and “Avg. Customer Review”
  • Amazon’s results page indicates if a book has the “Look Inside” feature
• Ebay
  • eBay’s search results page  allows for easy filtering via tabs at the top
  • eBay also has the option to view the thumbnail preview images in a different size:
  • Other features unique search results page are the options to change the amount of items displayed per page and the ability to go directly to a specific page by entering a number into a text box
• Flickr
  • Flickr  displays results by default in a simple grid-based format
  • Flickr also allows the images to be displayed either in a detail-heavy list-style view or inside of a Flash-based slideshow gallery
• Photobucket
  • Photobucket allows filtering of search results by “Most viewed” and “Most commented”. It also includes a link strangely titled “Follow”, which allows the user to enter their email address to receive notifications when the results for a particular search term are updated. A more appropriate title for this feature would be “Subscribe”, or similar.

For easy reference, here is a list of some of the best practices taken from Smashing Magaine’s Article:

• User should have easy access to the search box for follow-up searches
• Search terms should be clearly indicated at the top, and in context in the results
• Related sponsored links can be included below the search box, near the bottom, or on the right
• Titles should be clickable and clearly differentiated from details
• Visited links should be indicated
• Pagination units should be visibly block-shaped and have a hover effect, to easily differentiate from one another
• Related products, tags, or keywords should be displayed in a non-obtrusive section
• E-Commerce sites should allow the “view” to be toggled between “list” and “grid”
• Advanced search options should be easily accessible
• Should allow re-sorting or filtering of results
• Where possible, results pages should have RSS feeds or “subscribe” options
• For complex interfaces, clear, easy-to-access search tips or instructions should be provided
• Sorting and Filters should be JavaScript or Ajax-driven, where possible
• Popularity or star-ratings should be shown for individual results
• Include an option to increase the number of results per page
• To monitor future improvements, request feedback from users after searches are conducted
• If results span different sections of the website, indicate this by sub-headings or other dividers

So to sum it all up when building your own search engine try to come up with the best combination for your targeted audiance. But the overall goal should be your user’s experience and usability.