Findability

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Findability is the ease with which information contained on a website can be found, both from outside the website (using search engines and the like) and by users already on the website. [1] Although findability has relevance outside the World Wide Web, the term is usually used in that context. Most relevant websites do not come up in the top results because designers and engineers do not cater to the way ranking algorithms work currently. [2] Its importance can be determined from the first law of e-commerce, which states "If the user can’t find the product, the user can’t buy the product." [3] As of December 2014, out of 10.3 billion monthly Google searches by Internet users in the United States, an estimated 78% are made to research products and services online.[ citation needed ]

Contents

Findability encompasses aspects of information architecture, user interface design, accessibility and search engine optimization (SEO), among others.

Introduction

Findability is similar to discoverability, which is defined as the ability of something, especially a piece of content or information, to be found. It is different from web search in that the word find refers to locating something in a known space while 'search' is in an unknown space or not in an expected location. [4]

Mark Baker, the author of Every Page is Page One, [4] mentions that findability "is a content problem, not a search problem". [5] Even when the right content is present, users often find themselves deep within the content of a website but not in the right place. He further adds that findability is intractable, perfect findability is unattainable, but we need to focus on reducing the effort for finding that a user would have to do for themselves.

Findability can be divided into external findability and on-site findability, based on where the customers need to find the information.

History

Heather Lutze is thought to have created the term in the early 2000s. [6] The popularization of the term findability for the Web is usually credited to Peter Morville.[ citation needed ] In 2005 he defined it as: "the ability of users to identify an appropriate Web site and navigate the pages of the site to discover and retrieve relevant information resources", though it appears to have been first coined in a public context referring to the web and information retrieval by Alkis Papadopoullos in a 2005 article entitled "Findability". [7] [8]

External findability

External findability is the domain of Internet marketing and search engine optimization (SEO) tactics. External findability can be very influential for businesses. Smaller companies may have trouble influencing external findability, due to being less aware to consumers. Other means are taken to make sure that they are found in search results. [9]

Several factors affect external findability: [10]

  1. Search engine indexing : As the very first step, webpages need to be found by indexing crawler in order to be shown in the search results. It would be helpful to avoid factors that may lead to webpages being ignored by indexing crawlers. Those factors may include elements that require user interaction, such as entering log-in credentials. Algorithms for indexing vary by the search engine which means the number of webpages of a website successfully being indexed may be very different between Google and Yahoo!'s search engines. Also, in countries like China, government policies could significantly influence the indexing algorithms. In this case, local knowledge about laws and policies could be valuable.
  2. Page descriptions in search results: Once the webpages are successfully indexed by web crawlers and show in the search results with decent ranking, the next step is to attract customers to click the link to the web pages. However, the customers can't see the whole web pages at this point; they can only see an excerpt of the webpage's content and metadata. Therefore, displaying meaningful information in a limited space, usually a couple of sentences, in search results is important for increasing click traffic of the webpages, and thus the findability of the web content on your webpages.
  3. Keyword matching: At a semantic level, terminology used by the searcher and the content producer be different. Bridging the gap between the terms used by customers and developers is helpful for making web content more findable to more potential content consumers.

On-site findability

On-site findability is concerned with the ability of a potential customer to find what they are looking for within a specific site. More than 90 percent of customers use internal searches in a website compared to browsing. Of those, only 50 percent find what they are looking for. [9] Improving the quality of on-site searches highly improves the business of the website. Several factors affect findability on a website:

  1. Site search: If searchers within a site do not find what they are looking for, they tend to leave rather than browse through the website. Users who had successful site searches are twice as likely to ultimately convert. [9]
  2. Related links and products: User experience can be enhanced by trying to understand the needs of the customer and provide suggestions for other, related information.
  3. Site match to customer needs and preferences: Site design, content creation, and recommendations are major factors for affecting the customer experience.

Evaluation and measures

Baseline findability is the existing findability before changes are made in order to improve it. This is measured by participants who represent the customer base of the website, who try to locate a sample set of items using the existing navigation of the website. [11] [12]

In order to evaluate how easily information can be found by searching a site using a search engine or information retrieval system, retrievability measures were developed, and similarly, navigability measures now measure ease of information access through browsing a site (e.g. PageRank, MNav, InfoScent (see Information foraging), etc.).

Findability also can be evaluated via the following techniques:

Beyond findability

Findability Sciences defines a findability index in terms of each user's influence, context, and sentiments. For seamless search, current websites focus on a combination of structured hypertext-based information architectures and rich Internet application-enabled visualization techniques. [14]

See also

Related Research Articles

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In computing, a search engine is an information retrieval software system designed to help find information stored on one or more computer systems. Search engines discover, crawl, transform, and store information for retrieval and presentation in response to user queries. The search results are usually presented in a list and are commonly called hits. The most widely used type of search engine is a web search engine, which searches for information on the World Wide Web.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Web crawler</span> Software which systematically browses the World Wide Web

A Web crawler, sometimes called a spider or spiderbot and often shortened to crawler, is an Internet bot that systematically browses the World Wide Web and that is typically operated by search engines for the purpose of Web indexing.

Spamdexing is the deliberate manipulation of search engine indexes. It involves a number of methods, such as link building and repeating related and/or unrelated phrases, to manipulate the relevance or prominence of resources indexed in a manner inconsistent with the purpose of the indexing system.

Information architecture (IA) is the structural design of shared information environments; the art and science of organizing and labelling websites, intranets, online communities and software to support usability and findability; and an emerging community of practice focused on bringing principles of design, architecture and information science to the digital landscape. Typically, it involves a model or concept of information that is used and applied to activities which require explicit details of complex information systems. These activities include library systems and database development.

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the quality and quantity of website traffic to a website or a web page from search engines. SEO targets unpaid search traffic rather than direct traffic, referral traffic, social media traffic, or paid traffic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Googlebot</span> Web crawler used by Google

Googlebot is the web crawler software used by Google that collects documents from the web to build a searchable index for the Google Search engine. This name is actually used to refer to two different types of web crawlers: a desktop crawler and a mobile crawler.

Cloaking is a search engine optimization (SEO) technique in which the content presented to the search engine spider is different from that presented to the user's browser. This is done by delivering content based on the IP addresses or the User-Agent HTTP header of the user requesting the page. When a user is identified as a search engine spider, a server-side script delivers a different version of the web page, one that contains content not present on the visible page, or that is present but not searchable. The purpose of cloaking is sometimes to deceive search engines so they display the page when it would not otherwise be displayed. However, it can also be a functional technique for informing search engines of content they would not otherwise be able to locate because it is embedded in non-textual containers, such as video or certain Adobe Flash components. Since 2006, better methods of accessibility, including progressive enhancement, have been available, so cloaking is no longer necessary for regular SEO.

Internet research is the practice of using Internet information, especially free information on the World Wide Web, or Internet-based resources in research.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Metasearch engine</span> Online information retrieval tool

A metasearch engine is an online information retrieval tool that uses the data of a web search engine to produce its own results. Metasearch engines take input from a user and immediately query search engines for results. Sufficient data is gathered, ranked, and presented to the users.

From the point of view of a given web resource (referent), a backlink is a regular hyperlink on another web resource that points to the referent. A web resource may be a website, web page, or web directory.

Search engine marketing (SEM) is a form of Internet marketing that involves the promotion of websites by increasing their visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs) primarily through paid advertising. SEM may incorporate search engine optimization (SEO), which adjusts or rewrites website content and site architecture to achieve a higher ranking in search engine results pages to enhance pay per click (PPC) listings and increase the Call to action (CTA) on the website.

In online marketing, a landing page, sometimes known as a "lead capture page", "single property page", "static page", "squeeze page" or a "destination page", is a single web page that appears in response to clicking on a search engine optimized search result, marketing promotion, marketing email or an online advertisement. The landing page will usually display directed sales copy that is a logical extension of the advertisement, search result or link. Landing pages are used for lead generation. The actions that a visitor takes on a landing page are what determine an advertiser's conversion rate. A landing page may be part of a microsite or a single page within an organization's main web site.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Search engine</span> Software system for finding relevant information on the Web

A search engine is a software system that provides hyperlinks to web pages and other relevant information on the Web in response to a user's query. The user inputs a query within a web browser or a mobile app, and the search results are often a list of hyperlinks, accompanied by textual summaries and images. Users also have the option of limiting the search to a specific type of results, such as images, videos, or news.

A search engine results page (SERP) is a webpage that is displayed by a search engine in response to a query by a user. The main component of a SERP is the listing of results that are returned by the search engine in response to a keyword query.

A Website content writer or web content writer is a person who specializes in providing content for websites. Every website has a specific target audience and requires the most relevant content to attract business. Content should contain keywords aimed towards improving a website's SEO. A website content writer who also has knowledge of the SEO process is referred to as an SEO Content Writer.

Search engine indexing is the collecting, parsing, and storing of data to facilitate fast and accurate information retrieval. Index design incorporates interdisciplinary concepts from linguistics, cognitive psychology, mathematics, informatics, and computer science. An alternate name for the process, in the context of search engines designed to find web pages on the Internet, is web indexing.

In Internet marketing, search advertising is a method of placing online advertisements on web pages that show results from search engine queries. Through the same search-engine advertising services, ads can also be placed on Web pages with other published content.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geotargeting</span> Website content based on a visitors location

In geomarketing and internet marketing, geotargeting is the method of delivering different content to visitors based on their geolocation. This includes country, region/state, city, metro code/zip code, organization, IP address, ISP, or other criteria. A common usage of geotargeting is found in online advertising, as well as internet television with sites such as iPlayer and Hulu. In these circumstances, content is often restricted to users geolocated in specific countries; this approach serves as a means of implementing digital rights management. Use of proxy servers and virtual private networks may give a false location.

Discoverability is the degree to which something, especially a piece of content or information, can be found in a search of a file, database, or other information system. Discoverability is a concern in library and information science, many aspects of digital media, software and web development, and in marketing, since products and services cannot be used if people cannot find it or do not understand what it can be used for.

References

  1. ↑ Jacob, Elin K.; Loehrlein, Aaron (2009). "Information architecture". Annual Review of Information Science and Technology. 43: 1–64. doi:10.1002/aris.2009.1440430110.
  2. ↑ Morville, Peter (2005). Ambient Findability. Sebastopol, CA: Oreilly. ISBN   978-0-596-00765-2.
  3. ↑ "E-Commerce user experience: High-level strategy, Nielsen Norman Group". 2001.
  4. 1 2 Baker, Mark (2013). Every Page is Page One. XML Press. ISBN   978-1937434281.
  5. ↑ Baker, Mark (28 May 2013). "Findability is a Content Problem, not a Search Problem". Every Page is Page One. Retrieved 2015-04-25.
  6. ↑ Wainger, Liz (20 June 2013). "The Shtickiness Factor". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
  7. ↑ Alkis Papadopoulos (April 1, 2005). "The Key to Enterprise Search". KM World.
  8. ↑ Though the word has been used to mean "ease of finding information" since at least 1943: see Urban A. Avery, "The 'Findability' of the Law", Chicago Bar Record24:272, April 1943, reprinted in the Journal of the American Judicature Society27:25
  9. 1 2 3 "The Findability Solution" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-10-21. Retrieved 2015-04-21.
  10. ↑ "Findability Factors Found" (PDF).
  11. ↑ Sauro, Jeff (2 February 2015). Customer Analytics For Dummies. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN   978-1-118-93759-4.
  12. ↑ "How to Measure Findability".
  13. ↑ "Low Findability and Discoverability: Four Testing Methods to Identify the Causes". July 6, 2014.
  14. ↑ "Beyond Findability - Search-Enhanced Information Architecture for Content-Intensive Rich Internet Applications". 2010.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)

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