Shape
Search Design
Designing search so it understands people’s words and leads them to useful results.
What is Search Design?
Designing search so it understands people’s words and leads them to useful results.
What you learn
Search must understand people’s words and never leave them stuck.
When it helps
search returns irrelevant results, or people hit “no results” and give up.
Use it at work
- Collect the words people actually type.
- Match their words to yours, including synonyms and misspellings.
- Never show an empty page. Suggest close matches or next steps.
- Review failed searches every month.
Your output
Look at the top 20 searches that returned nothing. Add the words people used, and give every empty results page a next step.
Watch for
Matching only exact official terms and ending in a dead end.
Related practices
Sources
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