On-site search is a big deal, especially for e-commerce sites.  Many sites rely on internal search engines to drive thousands or millions of dollar in revenue, yet there is very little written about optimizing them to improve conversion, revenue per visit, or simple click-through rates.  On-site search consists of two transactions of interest, both of which can be optimized to improve usability, and the visitors ability to find what they are looking for:

1. The search box itself:

The primary goal of optimizing the search box itself is to make certain visitors on the site can find it and understand what it does. Typical tests would revolve around the placement of the search box, size of the text field, color, and the appearance and text on the button.

2. The search results page:

Once people complete a search, they arrive to a results page which displays matching products or content.  The goal of the results page is for people be able to quickly see the results and then link to the content found.  Certainly, the effectiveness of this page will be highly dependent on the relevance of the results, but on-page factors (which can be optimized) play an important role as well.

We have seen simple changes and optimization increase search result page engagement by over 40%, which is a very big lift for something most people would think has little to do with testing.

The results page offers up many more areas of testing and optimization.  Here are a few to consider:

• How many results do you display?
• Do you use a regular site template or a scaled down page design which makes it easier for the user to focus on results?
• What visual cues do you provide within the results (such as highlighted matching text.)
• Do you allow people to purchase or add to cart directly from the search results?
• Do you show prices in the results?
• Do you show a “related searches” section to help the user refine their search (this has potential to distract them from the main results though.)

When you test these, you should make sure to track both result page engagement (did people click on the search results) as well as revenue per visit.  Subtle changes in the search system can make a big difference in revenue for many e-commerce sites, so never rely on engagment metrics only!