Could Your Business Benefit From Using Custom Internal Site Search on Your Website?
Have you ever landed on a website and wished you could search for exactly what you want like you do on Google or Bind?
Or have you visited a subscription-based website like Netflix?
If you said yes to these questions, then you already know what an internal site search is and how important it is for an enjoyable experience on a website.
A high-functioning internal site search ensures your site visitors can find exactly what they came to your site for.
If your website doesn’t have an on-site search function, then you could be missing out on a lot of conversions and sales, and your business can’t afford that.
We help businesses in Dallas and Fort Worth, TX area and all over the US optimize their websites for better user experience.
Better user experience equals more happy customers.
Contact us today to see how your business could benefit from an internal search function on your website. With the right digital agency behind you, you can have a website that’s perfectly optimized for easy and quick results, resulting in higher conversions.
How does an internal site search help your business?
Have you ever went to search for something on a website only to get too many results that aren’t relevant to what you are looking for or even worse, little to no results?
Yes?
Us too...
And it left us feeling frustrated and you probably felt similar.
So what happens to site visitors that do not have a good experience when they are searching for something?
Well if you are a one-of-kind shop, that is you don’t have a lot of direct competition, then you can probably get away with a less than stellar search function for a while because your customers can’t easily jump ship.
But what happens if you sell something that has a lot of competition and your search function is non-existent or stinks?
Well, your site visitors will probably leave, never to return.
If you own or run a business, then you know just as well as anyone that the market is always changing. So whether your business has a lot of competition or not, it’s smart to optimize your internal search on your website now (rather than wait) so you can convert more site visitors and keep them coming back for more.
Benefits of an internal search function
Did you know that 43% of site visitors go to the search bar immediately after landing on your site?
Yep, and with stats like that, you can’t afford to not have an on-site search tool or one that doesn’t perform as well as it should.
So how exactly does a search function help your business?
Quick, easy, and relevant search results
First up is quick, easy, and relevant search results. If you have an internal search tool on your site, but it doesn’t do a good job finding relevant results, your site visitors will fulfill their needs elsewhere.
So your internal site search must have a good understanding of user’s behaviors as well as their expectations and needs. Your search function must also account for user error, alternate phrases, and partial word matching.
A well-designed search function will not overwhelm the potential customer with the number of search results but will return just the right amount of results that are relevant to the site visitor’s query, increasing the likelihood of conversions.
Decreases friction during the search experience
Let’s say that you have a potential customer that lands on your site with an intention to buy, but they can’t find what they are looking for.
Do you think they will keep searching?
Probably not.
In the online world, we know that people want things now. They expect online buying to be quick and easy, and that’s why shoppers who use an internal search function on a website spend 2.6 times more.
Decreased friction during the search process equals shoppers that spend more.
Makes it easy for site visitors to find content
As your site grows, the content on your site will likely grow as well. And the more content on your site, the harder it can be to navigate through it all. This can make it difficult for potential customers to find what they are looking for.
And while a search function on your website makes it easy for your site visitors to quickly navigate to what they need, it also helps them find other content or products that they may be interested in.
For example, someone lands on a digital marketing agency's website looking for SEO-related information. If they plug in SEO on the internal search function on your website, it should pull everything related to SEO providing them with the information they need and helping them discover more of your content. The more high-quality SEO content they discover will help build authority with your potential customer, hopefully converting them into fans.
Improved user experience
Giving your site visitors a great experience means creating a website that’s intuitive and easy to use. This isn’t solely based on an on-site search function, but a search function is a great way to improve user experience. If your site visitors have a good experience, they will likely become paying customers.
So with the right search function, you’ll be able to give your online visitors the search results they’re looking for. But it also allows you to gather important data that can help improve the potential customer’s interaction with your website, making an on-site search function a win for your site visitors and your team.
Customer search intent
One of the hardest things for a business is to anticipate a site visitor’s search intent. That means you must consider exactly what search results they want from a combination of possible search terms.
And with the right internal search tool, you will be able to track data that will give you valuable insight into how your site visitors behave and their expectations. When you understand the way your site visitors interact with your website, you can better anticipate their search intent turning site visitors into happy customers.
Algolia for an optimized search experience on your website
We love using Algolia for internal search functionality. It’s a tool that creates websites geared towards potential customer’s search intent based on data gathered from user behavior.
When online school giant Coursera used Algolia for their internal search function, they saw real results such as:
- 10% increase in pageviews for degree description pages
- 10x faster search
- 30% of enrollments come from site search
Could your business benefit from:
An increase in pageviews
Faster and easier searches
Increased conversions
If so, an internal search tool like Algolia could help.
How Rocket Park can help you create an optimized internal search function
If you have a website that doesn’t have an internal search function, not to worry. We can build you a custom add-on or we can use a tool like Algolia to create a seamless search experience for your site visitors no matter what their search needs might be.
But if you are looking into building a custom website, remember it’s important to consider the build from the perspective of both your site visitors and your team. Integrating an on-site search function during the beginning stages of your website build can be easier and more effective compared to implementing it later down the road.
The right internal search function can give you valuable insight into how your online visitors behave, allowing you to optimize your website for increased conversions and sales.
If your website could benefit from an internal search function in Chicago, IL or Boulder, CO or anywhere else in the US, give call us today at (214) 225-2011 for a free consultation.