Sam Marshall of ClearBox consulting and David Francoeur, of Bonzai taking a non-technical look at intranet search, to help you improve results and the overall experience. If you're responsible for search configuration then we welcome you, but this webinar is also for intranet managers and digital team members who care about content and ensuring the intranet is truly useful to colleagues. The business cost of poor search Why intranet search is hard How to improve the search user experience Ways to diagnose why search fails Quick ways to enhance your search results.

1. Webinar
The art of
intranet search

2. Q&A system:We will
try to answer some
questions during the
webinar, and a few
more at the end.
Both participating
companies will email
you the recording
within 48 hours (so you
won’t miss it!).
You can listen via your
computer or by dialling
the phone number in
the email you received
today.
Housekeeping

3. Your webinar hosts
Sam Marshall
Managing Director
@SamMarshall
David Francoeur
Solution Delivery
Specialist
@DavidKFrancoeur

4. About ClearBox
ClearBox Consulting is a specialist independent consultancy
that believes in making the workplace a better and more
productive experience.We understand technology, but we
approach it from the people side first.
Our goal is to help organisations collaborate and communicate
more effectively.We specialise in intranets and the wider digital
workplace, including internal social media, enterprise mobile
strategies and real-time collaboration tools.
Sam Marshall
Managing Director
@SamMarshall

5. About Bonzai
David is a SharePoint and Office 365 specialist who enjoys
designing and building new things that make the workplace, and
more importantly its stakeholders, more effective. While tools can
go a long way, he is a firm believer in the pivotal roles played by
research, analysis, strategy, and training for any tool to be
successful.
David focuses his time on the design and implementation of new
intranets across a wide variety of industries.
David Francoeur
Solution Delivery
Specialist
@DavidKFrancoeur

6. How many people (or
FTEs) do you have
working on your
enterprise search?
Poll

7. Agenda
 Why search matters
 Why intranet search is challenging
 Diagnosing search issues
 The user experience of search
 Q&A

8. Why search matters

9. Employees are always frustrated
It's difficult to find the
same information twice
even though I know it's
there!
If you search for
documents you'll get
everything that's ever
been written - finding a
recent one is really
difficult
Whenever somebody
tells me the answer is on
the intranet my heart
sinks – I know I’ll never
find it

10. Source: https://intrateam.com/services/benchmark/
How satisfied are your users with internal search?
10%
30%
23%

11. It has real business impact

12. Why search is
challenging

13. Why doesn’t it work like
 Content
 Resources and motivation
 Digital literacy
 System fragmentation
?

14. Diagnosing search
issues

15. Four basic search steps
Content
Published
Content
Indexed
1 2
Search
Retrieval
3
Search
Results
4

16. Where search goes wrong
Content quality issues
Technical issues
IA issues
Other
User training issues
https://www.clearbox.co.uk/diagnosing-enterprise-search/
Finding
1.
Content
1.1 Content missing
1.2 Metadata
Inconsistent
Ambiguous
No keywords
Entity extraction
1.3 Structure
Buried in document
Poor titles
1.4 Language
Foreign language
Jargon
2.
Index
2.1 Content not
indexed
Security
No connector
2.2 Index quality Vocabulary
3.
Retrieve
3.1 Search engine
Ranking
Too many results
No refiners
Content ROT
Duplicate contentToo few results
3.2 User skills
Query too general
Logical operators
Misspelling
4.
Results
4.1 Results page
layout
4.2 Media
presentation
Results hard to scan
4.3 Security
trimming
Result inaccessible
4.4 Ease of browsing
Suitabilityof content
format
Section structure
4.5 Confidence
Ratings
Publishing metadata
Feedback
Naming conventions

17. Underlying causes 1:
content
1. Content
1.1 Content missing
1.2 Metadata
Inconsistent
Ambiguous
No keywords
Entity extraction
1.3 Structure
Buried in document
Poor titles
1.4 Language
Foreign language
Jargon

18. The user experience of
search

19. The Search Experience
The user’s search experience can be divided into two parts, the query and
the results. It is a conversation comprised of a question and an answer.
Question
From the user
Answer
From the system

20. Search Query
The Art of the Search Box
How can we assist the user in effectively framing their question?

21. Search Query
Studies show that users expect to find the search box
at the top of the page, most commonly the top right.
Keep the search box in the same spot, on every page.
Search Box Placement
Search Box Persistence
Medium.com

22. Search Query
Use standard language and symbols to identify the search box and to launch the search.
Keep it Recognizable

23. Search Query
Let users know what they are searching for.
Targeted or Contextualized Search
IMDB.com

24. Search Query
To provide immediate feedback to
the user, give them some
suggestions or possible hits for
their search query.
Keep this number low.
Let users launch one of those
results (or a related action)
without even leaving the search
box.
Predictions & Suggestions

25. Search Results
The Results Page
How can we assist the user in finding the correct answer, quickly?

26. Consuming Web Content
 We have known for some time that people don’t read
the web the same way they read printed materials.
 People scan web pages.
 Eye tracking studies demonstrate that our eyes tend
to follow the rough outline of an ‘F’.
 Search, therefore, must be made ‘scannable’ like any
other web content.
Nielsen Norman

27. Search Results
Give people scannable information and visual cues to quickly identify results.
Context

28. Search Results
Give users the ability to refine or filter the results,
with or without a keyword.
Ensure it is easy to add or remove filters, it should
never be complicated.
Useful for users who want to browse, or when
users see too many results to scan.
Refiners or Filters
Patagonia.ca
Expedia.com

29. Search Results
Give users a preview of the content, or an image associated with the content.
Context

30. Search Results
Give users a sense of how many results they are working with.
Break out long lists of results into manageable sizes.
Counts and Paging

31. Search Results
Surface the most popular searches (either dynamically or by curation).
Show ‘Best Bets’ or searches you are trying to promote at the top of the results.
Popular Searches

32. Search Results
Show people why the result is being returned.
Hit Highlights/Matching

33. Search Results
Give people a choice between how the results are displayed.
Offer different ways for the user to sort their results.
Personalization

34. Feedback
Give users a mechanism to easily report problems with search.
Feedback

35. User Experience Summary
Provide meaningful context via a variety of visual cues
Keep things scannable
Don’t meddle with norms that users are familiar with
Allow for flexibility in how users find information
Provide shortcuts to information, when applicable

36. Q&A

37. SharePoint intranets in-a-box
10% off
BonzaiWebinar
clearbox.co.uk
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New for 2019: Our expert assessments
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into a useful and useable intranet.

38. Connect
ClearBox Consulting
clearbox.co.uk
@ClearBox
hello@clearbox.co.uk
+44 (0) 1224 458746
Treliske House, Queens Park Road,
Chester, CH4 7AD, UK
Bonzai
bonzai-intranet.com
@BonzaiIntranet
info@bonzai-intranet.com

39. Acknowledgements
Icon Attribution
Freepik from www.flaticon.com
Website by vectlab from the Noun Project