| Making sure that your search engine makes it as | | | | Dyslexia Association around 4% of the population |
| easy as possible for your customers to find what | | | | are severely dyslexic and a further 6% have mild |
| they are looking for is business-critical. It is also | | | | to moderate dyslexia problems. |
| very difficult - good search engines can cost an | | | | This means that your search engine has to |
| awful lot of money and require a lot of ongoing | | | | account for people making basic knowledge-based |
| effort to keep them up to scratch. | | | | spelling mistakes. |
| As an example: on Monday 12th December 2005, | | | | Your search engine should also account for people |
| I wanted to buy a copy of Jamie Oliver's new | | | | who know how to spell what they are looking for, |
| cook book Jamie's Italy from amazon.co.uk. So, I | | | | but make typing errors. The main categories of |
| went to the "Books" section of their website and | | | | typing error are: |
| searched for "olivers italy" and these 9 items | | | | - Characters close to one another on the |
| appeared on the results page: | | | | keyboard being entered erroneously (either in |
| 1. "The American Tractor" by Patrick W. Ertel | | | | place of - or in addition to - the correct letter). |
| 2. "A Garden in Lucca: Finding Paradise in Tuscany" | | | | For example: wrong/wring ; for/dfor. |
| by Paul Gervais | | | | - Characters being omitted. For example: missing |
| 3. "History in Exile: Memory and Identity at the | | | | missng ; oliver's/olivers. |
| Borders of the Balkans" by Pamela Ballinger | | | | - Characters being entered too many times. For |
| 4. "Oliver Tractors" by Jeff Hackett, Mike | | | | example: impossible/imposssible. |
| Schaefer | | | | - Characters being entered in the wrong order. |
| 5. "Wyoming (Moon Handbooks S.)" by Don Pitcher | | | | For example: disaply/display ; being/ebing. |
| 6. "Wines of Australia (Mitchell Beazley Wine | | | | Your search engine should allow people to make |
| Guides)" by James Halliday | | | | these mistakes and still return useful and relevant |
| 7. "All Music Guide to Jazz: The Definitive Guide to | | | | results. |
| Jazz Music" by Ron Wynn (Editor), et al. | | | | Even though we have named these types of |
| 8. "Larousse Gastronomique: The World's Greatest | | | | issues 'User error', if your search engine fails to |
| Cookery Encyclopedia" by Prosper Montagne | | | | return information that that the user is looking for |
| 9. "The Teacher's Calendar: The Day-By-Day | | | | it is, of course, your fault and not theirs! |
| Directory to Holidays, Historical Events, Birthdays | | | | Search engine error |
| and Special Days, Weeks and Months" by Holly | | | | When people enter the wrong term into a search |
| McGuire (Compiler), et al. | | | | engine, it is only wrong because you have not |
| Jamie Oliver's book didn't appear anywhere on the | | | | anticipated it. You should aim to cover as many |
| results page, even though it had been Amazon's | | | | bases and anticipate as many different search |
| 3rd best-selling book in the previous 24 hours. | | | | terms as possible. |
| The problem was that I had typed "olivers italy", | | | | What to do |
| instead of "oliver's italy" (which would have | | | | The next steps for making your search engine |
| returned Jamie Oliver's at the top of the search | | | | perform better are really simple: |
| results list). That single missing apostrophe was all | | | | - Sit down and make a list of all the spelling |
| that it took for Amazon's expensive search | | | | errors, typing errors and alternative search terms |
| engine to splutter, fall over and fail. | | | | that you think could possibly be relevant to your |
| So - if Amazon can't do it, it must be impossible, | | | | site (e.g. actually look at your keyboard and think |
| right? | | | | about what letters are close to one another). |
| Wrong - here are some things the boys & | | | | - Ask other people in your organisation to make |
| girls at Amazon could - and should - have thought | | | | similar lists. |
| about. | | | | - Do some research into what search terms |
| Two types of problems | | | | people are using on your site (e.g. interviews, |
| There are two basic types of problems that a | | | | questionnaires, check your search engine logs, |
| user can experience when they are searching for | | | | etc.) |
| something: | | | | - Apply everything you learn to your search |
| - User-error - the correct search term is entered | | | | engine. |
| incorrectly (i.e. the user intends to enter a search | | | | And that's it. You now have the knowledge you |
| term that would cause the search engine to | | | | need to begin improving your site's search engine. |
| return results that are relevant to their needs, but | | | | Other thoughts |
| they enter it incorrectly). | | | | - Improvements in word processing software |
| - Search engine error - the wrong search term is | | | | have made people lazy typists. Software that |
| entered (i.e. the user enters a search term that | | | | auto-corrects many spelling and typing errors |
| the search engine does not relate to their needs). | | | | means that people are no longer forced to review |
| User error | | | | and correct their work to the same extent as in |
| People generally enter the correct search term | | | | the past. This means that many people are |
| incorrectly because they either: | | | | getting out of the habit of precise spelling/typing. |
| - Don't know how to spell it. | | | | So, when they move out of an auto-correcting |
| - Have made a typing error | | | | environment (and onto a website, for example) |
| It's important to realise that there are millions of | | | | they are more likely to make - and less likely to |
| potential customers who can't spell very well. For | | | | notice/correct - mistakes! |
| example, a 2003 survey of the literacy (i.e. | | | | - Search results pages should display the search |
| reading and writing) estimated that there were | | | | term the user entered in large text (e.g. 28pt). |
| 16% of English adults (aged 16 to 65-year-olds) | | | | This would help people spot any inadvertent |
| had literacy levels no higher than those expected | | | | errors.Results pages should also provide the |
| of an 11 year-old (source: The Skills for Life | | | | telephone numbers for customer enquiries |
| Survey). | | | | assistance. |
| Also, let's not forget that according to the British | | | | |