Web Searcher Goals and Behaviors for Library...

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Part4:SearchExperienceOp2miza2on—WebSearcherGoals&BehaviorsforLibrary

Websites

Presentedby

ShariThurow,FounderandSEODirector

OmniMarke<ngInterac<ve

Aboutme:

•  AuthorofSearchEngineVisibility,whichhasbeentranslatedinto5languages.Co-authorofWhenSearchMeetsWebUsability.

•  SEOprofessionalsince1995,pioneeringsearch-enginefriendlywebsitedesign.

•  Informa<onarchitectsince1990.

•  Webdesigner/developersince1995.

•  WebsiteusabilityandUXprofessionalsince2002.

•  ASLIBJournalofInforma2onManagementEditorialAdvisoryBoard

•  UserExperienceProfessionalsAssocia2on(UXPA)BoardMemberFormerlytheUsabilityProfessionalsAssocia<on

•  Informa2onArchitectureIns2tute(IAI)BoardMemberandAdvisoryBoard

SeriesAgenda:

•  Part1:OverviewofSearchEngineOp<miza<on(SEO)forLibrarians&Libraries

•  Part2:KeywordsandCopywri<ng—HowtoWriteSearch-EngineFriendlyContent&LabelingSystemsforLibraryWebsites

•  Part3:SEOAccessibility—HowtoCreateSearch-EngineFriendlyWebsiteArchitecture&Naviga<onSystemsforLibraryWebsites

•  Part4:WebSearcherGoals&BehaviorsforLibraryWebsites

•  Part5:LinkDevelopment&SocialMediaOp<miza<on(SMO)forLibraryWebsites

Today’sagenda:

•  Quickreview

•  Taxonomyofwebsearch–  Go–  Know–  Do

•  Mobilequeries•  En<tysearch

•  Graphicimageop<miza<on

•  Websearchenginechallenges

•  Tips&recommenda<ons

•  Ques<ons&answers

QUICKREVIEWWebSearcherGoals&BehaviorsforLibraryWebsites

Searchengineop<miza<on(SEO)isop<mizingawebsiteforpeoplewhousesearchengines.

SEARCH-ENGINE

FRIENDLY

SEOisapartofuserexperience:

desirable

useful

valuable

accessible

credible

usable

findablefindable

!  Browsing

!  Searching

!  Asking

4fundamentalbuildingblocksofSEO:

1.   Keywords,labels,andcopywri2ngDoyourdigitaldocumentscontainthewordsandphrasesthatyourtargetaudiencetypesintosearchqueries?

2.   Accessibility(sitearchitecture&forma\ng)Dosearchengineshaveeasy,user-friendlyaccesstocontentthroughsitearchitecture,naviga<on,pagelayout,formaang,andURLstructure?

3.   Linkdevelopment&socialsignalsDoesyourwebsitegetobjec<ve,high-quality,third-partylinkspoin<ngtoit(notonlyyourhomepage)?

4.   WebsearcherbehaviorsDoesyourwebsiteaccommodateknownsearchergoalsandbehaviors?

Off-the-page criteria

LinkDevelopment

&Social

SearcherGoals

Keywords&Labels

Access&InfoScent

Torememberaboutkeywordsandlabels:

•  Createaclearandconsistentlabelingsystem.Bothsearchersandtechnologyshouldbeabletocorrectlyinterpretyourlabelingsystem.

•  3typesoflabels:–  Document

–  Naviga<on–  Content

•  Placeyourkeywordsprominentlyonyourpages.Don’tmakepeoplescrolltodeterminewhatyourcontentisabout.

Torememberaboutarchitectureandnaviga2on:

•  Alibrary’swebsitewilllikelyhaveaninforma<onarchitecturebasedon:–  Targetaudience–  Commontasks

–  Topic/subject–  Filetype(video,ebook,etc.)–  Time/date

–  (Alphabe<cal)

•  5typesofwebsitenaviga<on.–  Includecontextualandsupplementalnaviga<on.

–  Minimizepogo-s<cking.

•  MakesureyourURLsareaccessible.

Typesofwebsitenaviga2on:

Global Utilities

Contextual

Supplemental

Where am I? Need help?

What’s related to this content?

t’s n

Site map

Torememberaboutsearchergoals:

•  Websearchershave3maingoals:

–  Go(naviga<onal)–  Know(informa<onal)

–  Do(transac<onal)

Broder,A.(2002,September).Ataxonomyofwebsearch.InACMSigirforum(Vol.36,No.2,pp.3-10).ACM.Retrievedat:hhps://www.seman<cscholar.org/paper/A-taxonomy-of-web-search-Broder/38cb9bc50282615e0631d47825c5e0c7f691c3f7/pdf

TAXONOMYOFWEBSEARCHWebSearcherGoals&BehaviorsforLibraryWebsites

Navigational

(Where can I go?)

Transactional

(What can I do?)

Informational

(What can I learn?)

Naviga2onalintent:

Re-find

Knowncontent/site

Naviga2onalqueries:

•  Ifasearcher’sgoalistogotoaspecificwebsiteortoaspecificpagewithinawebsite,thenthekeywordsareconsideredtobenaviga2onal.

•  Inotherwords,searchersareusingthewebsearchenginestonavigate(goto)aspecificsite.

•  Forawebpage,ifthewebsearcher’sgoalisnaviga<onal,thenthefollowingitemsareimportantforrankingpurposes:

–  OverallURLstructure–  Filename–  Domainname

Indicatorsofnaviga2onalqueries:

•  Por<onsofURLs

•  1or2keywords

•  Domainsuffixes(.com)

•  Appearanceofsitelinks

SITELINKS

Benefitsofgoodlabelsandarchitecture:

TIP:Testyourlibrarywebsitefornaviga<onalqueries.

Tes2ngyourlibrarysite:

•  Forofficialname–  Dositelinksappear?–  ArethereanysitelinksyouDON’Twanttoappear?

•  Forcommonabbrevia<ons(ifused)

•  City+publiclibrary

•  Withandwithoutadvancedsearchoperators

Usingadvancedsearchoperators:

Informa2onalintent:

Answertoques<on Quickfact

ListReadreviews

Informa2onalqueries:

•  Searcherwantstoreadorknowmoreinforma<onaboutatopic.

•  Canbebroadorspecific.

•  Quickanswerstoaques<on.

•  Goalistolearnsomethingbyreadingorviewingcontentontheweb:–  Text–  Images

–  Audiofiles–  Videofiles

•  Note:majorityofsearchqueriesareinforma<onalinnature.

Indicatorsofinforma2onalqueries:

•  Ques<onwords

•  4ormorekeywords

•  Plurals(listintheU.S.)

Answertoaques2on:

•  FAQs

•  Reference

•  How-tos

•  Guides

AveragenumberofsearchtermsforonlinesearchqueriesintheUnitedStatesasofJanuary2016:

Bycountry:

hhp://www.keyworddiscovery.com/keyword-stats.html

Newin2016:

•  KnowSimple

–  KnowSimplequeriesareforshort,rela<velyfactualsearches.

–  Googleintroducedthisnewcategoryforinforma<onalqueriesthatcanbeansweredwithashort(1-2sentence)answerthatisnotcontroversial,i.e.thetypeofanswerthatissuitedforthesedirectanswer-typeresponses.

–  Thesealsoincludeimpliedqueries(notinformofaques<on).

•  Know

–  Queriesthataretoocomplexorhavetoomanypossibleanswers.

–  ManycontroversialtopicsareconsideredtobeKnowQueries,becausetherearedifferentopinionsonatopicthatusuallycan’tbeansweredin1–2sentences.

Insearchresults:

hhps://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/6229325?hl=en

Transac2onalintent:

Watchavideo

Listentomusic

Lookatpictures

Download

Transac2onalqueries:

•  Searcherintendstocompleteatransac<on(purchase,download,enroll,playagame,beentertained,etc.)

•  Willinteractwiththecontentonthewebpage.

•  Note:Manysearchquerieshavemul<pleintents:

–  Iwanttodo________________(transac<onal)–  AserIsee__________________(informa<onal)

Indicatorsoftransac2onalqueries:

•  Interac<onverbs(apply)

•  Ac<vitynouns(videos)

•  Fileextensions(.jpg,.mp3)

Examplesoftransac2onalkeywords:

Interac2onverb: Ac2vitynoun:

• Apply • Applica<on

• Calculate • Calculator

• Subscribe • Subscrip<on

• Register • Registra<on

• Findorlocate • Loca<on(s)

Loca2onfinder:

hhp://www.chipublib.org/loca<ons/15/

MOBILEQUERIESWebSearcherGoals&BehaviorsforLibraryWebsites

Formobilequeries:

Quickfact Loca2on PersonalInforma2on

Mobileinforma2onneedsaretriggeredbycontext:

Chua,A.Y.,Balkunje,R.S.,&Goh,D.H.L.(2011,March).TheInfluenceofUser-ContextonMobileInforma<onNeeds.InAdvancedInforma?onNetworkingandApplica?ons(WAINA),2011IEEEWorkshopsofInterna?onalConferenceon(pp.721-726).IEEE.

ENTITYSEARCHWebSearcherGoals&BehaviorsforLibraryWebsites

Anen2tyis…

•  “…athingorconceptthatissingular,unique,well-definedanddis<nguishable,”accordingtoarecentGooglepatent,RankingSearchResultsBasedOnEn?tyMetrics.

Searcherbehaviorvaries:

•  Searcherbehaviorsaredifferentfor:–  Knownen<<es–  Par<allyknownen<<es–  Unknownen<<es

Source:Moore,R.(2013).ANameisWorthaThousandPictures:Referen<alPrac<ceinHumanInterac<onswithInternetSearchEngines.InMobileSpeechandAdvancedNaturalLanguageSolu?ons(pp.259-286).SpringerNewYork.

Knownen2ty:

•  Ifsearchersknowthenameofanen<ty,theyusethatname.

•  1/3oftestpar<cipantsusedtheen<tyname.

•  1.4queriesonaverageifknewen<tyname.

Whoisthis?

Photosource:hhp://commons.wikimedia.org/wikiFile:Cate_Blancheh_face_3.jpg

Searchresults:

“IwanttogototheNa<onalCancerIns<tutewebsite.”

Searchresults:

“Iwantinforma<onabouttheEiffelTower.”

Searchresults:

“IwanttheGailBordenLibrarywebsite.”

Searchresults:

Par2allyknownen2ty:

•  Searchersusedatwo-stepapproach:

–  Useagenericdescrip<on

–  Usedarelatedname

–  Lookatgraphicimages

–  18%lookatWikipedia

•  Ifthenameoftheen<tyislearned?Thatiswhatsearchersuseinsubsequentqueries.

•  6.7queriesonaverageforpar<allyknownen<<es.

Whatisthis?

Searchresults:

“Wha???”

Searchresults:

Thisiscalledascimitar:

“There’samuseuminParisthatisinarailwaysta<onorcar.Idon’tremembertheexactname.”

“Wha???”

“Okay,maybeI’lltrythewordrailwayinstead.”

“Ooh!Let’strythatfirstone.”

“Great!That’swhatit’scalled.”

“Idon’twanttheWikipedialis<ng,though.”

Inthispar2allyknownen2tyexample:

1.  SearcherknewitwasamuseuminParis,butdidnotrememberthename.

2.  Thefirstsetofsearchlis<ngsmadenosensetothesearcher.Sohe/shedecidedtomodifythequerywithadifferentword.Thisiscalledqueryreformula2on.

3.  Google’sautosugges<ontoolgavethestrongestinforma2onscent.

4.  Searchergotthenameofthemuseum,theMuseed’Orsay.

5.  Searcherusedthenameofthemuseuminthesubsequentsearch.

6.  Searchergotdesiredresults.He/sheclickedonanEnglish-languageversionlis<ngoftheMuseed’Orsaywebsite.

Whenwebsearchershaveadifficult2mefindinginforma2on:

•  Formulatemorediversequeries

•  Usemoreadvancedsearchoperators

•  Spendlonger2meonSERPs(searchengineresultspages)

Whenhighlyskillfulsearchersstruggletofinddesiredcontent:

•  Pahern–  Trydifferentqueries–  Getfrustrated–  Findanotherway(suchasaskingafriendorcolleague)

•  Bodylanguage(frustra<onsignals):–  Frown–  Somestartbi<ngtheirnails

–  Manyleanclosertothemonitorasiftomakesurethey'renotmissingsomethingobvious

–  Inthink-aloudstudies,stopthinkingaloud

Unknownen2ty:

•  Ifsearchersareunabletodeterminethenameofanen<ty,theygiveup.

•  Average9.5queriesbeforetheygaveup.

Tilde(~)search:

No<cethatmuseums(plural)ishighlightedinsearchlis<ngs.

Louvreisalsohighlighted.

Labelsareextremelyimportanttousers:

•  Labelyouren<<esinawaythatmakessensetoyourtargetaudience(users).

•  Providecontexttoyouren<<es.

•  Don’toverwhelmusers–usabilitycounts!

Howtoop2mize:

•  Ifsearchersdon’tknowwhattocalltheirdesiredcontent,theylookforcues:–  Graphicimages

–  Relatedkeywords–  Wikipediaitems

•  Therefore,3thingstodoforen<tyop<miza<on:–  Graphicimageop<miza<on

–  ReviewWikipediainforma<onabouttheen<<esyouwishtobefoundfor.Whatwords/phrasescanyouaddtocontenttoensurefindability.

–  Treateveryaccessiblepageonsiteasapointofentry

GRAPHICIMAGEOPTIMIZATIONWebSearcherGoals&BehaviorsforLibraryWebsites

Websearchengineslookat:

•  Titletagofpagewhereimage(s)islocated

•  Visiblecontentcopy•  Textatthetopofawebpage(Whatiscontentabout?)

•  Inandaroundhypertextlinks•  Meta-tagcontent

•  Alterna<vetext(whenapplicable)•  URL(includesdomainandfilenames)

Fileformat:

•  IfthefileisaJPEGorJPG,thensearchenginesusuallyinterpretthefileasaphotographoracomplexgraphicimage.

•  Inotherwords:

logo.png

isprobablyagraphicimageofalogo,and

atm-machine.jpg

isprobablyaphotographofanATMmachine.

Canyouiden2fythisgraphicimage?

hhp://images.medicinenet.com/images/illustra<ons/heart_ahack.jpg

Wereyouright?

Alterna2vetext:

•  Intheeventthatagraphicimagedoesnotload,alterna<vetextcanappearinitsplace.

•  Codeexample<imgsrc=“images/logo.png”width=“100”height=“60”alt=“XYZlogo”/>

•  Alterna<vetextisveryimportantforaccessibility.

Imageop2miza2onguidelines:

•  Makesureyouformatgraphicimagescorrectly(diagramvs.photo).

•  Nameyourgraphicimagesinawaythatmakessensetoyourtargetaudience.Donotletsoswaregeneratefilenames.

•  Makesuregraphicimages’URLsarealsoeasytounderstand.

•  Usecap<onsandsubheadingstoprovidecontextualcuestoimagesearchenginesaswellassearcherswhenappropriate.

•  Ifyouareunabletocreatecap<ons,makesurethepagesthatcontainanimageisop<mizedfortargetedkeywordphrases.

•  Providemul<plepointsofaccesstoimages.

•  Usabilitycounts!–  Minimizedownload<me(compressionanddimensions)–  Usealterna<vetext

WEBSEARCHENGINECHALLENGESWebSearcherGoals&BehaviorsforLibraryWebsites

Searchresultsarefarfromperfect.

Challenge#1–Correctlyinterpre2ngsearcherintent:

•  Forsometypesofqueries,mostorallsearcherswantthesamething.

•  Forotherquerytypes,differentsearcherswantdifferentresultsBUTtheyusethesamekeywordorkeywordphrasephrase.

Whatisthissearcher’sintent?

Searchmouse

Forlibrarywebsites:

•  Alwaysprovidecontext.

•  Treateverywebpageasapointofentry.Don’tassumesearcherswillprovidecontext.

•  TIP:Use<ldesearches.

No<cethatmuseums(plural)ishighlightedinsearchlis<ngs.

Louvreisalsohighlighted.

Challenge#2–Naviga2onalvs.informa2onalintent:

•  Somekeywordphrasesthatseemtocommunicateinforma<onalintentareactuallyaresultofre-finding(naviga<onalintent).

•  Tobeherunderstandkeywordsanduserintent,searchenginesareexploringanumberofitems:

–  Lookatsearch/webhistorytoseewhatsearchershavealreadydone–  Searchercharacteris<cs(geographicloca<on,language,etc.)–  Context

Forlibrarywebsites:

•  Regularlyreviewyoursite-searchandweb-analy<csdata.

–  Howareusersfindingyoursiteandcontent?–  Isthereinanincreaseinnaviga<onalqueries?–  Whatarecommon404(PageNotFound)queries?

–  Over<me,arelessandlessusersarrivingatpagesotherthanyourhomepage?

Challenge#3–Accurateweb/searchhistory:

•  ByrecordingwhatpeopleclickoninSERPs,searchenginescanlearnthesitesthatanindividualsearcherfavors.

•  Searchhistoryisnotalwaysappropriatetohelpsearchersaccomplishtheirdesiredgoals:

–  Searchers’interestschangeover<me

–  Peopleworkondifferentcategoriesortaskswithinashort<mespan

–  Mul<pleusers/searchersusethesamecomputer

–  Onepersonsearchesformanydifferentpeople

–  Vanitysearches:SEOprofessionalsandwebsiteownersliketosearchforclientortheirownsites

–  Personaliza<on(withwebhistory)canimpedesearchers’desirestodiscovernewtopics(informa<onalintent)

Challenge#4–Recencyorfreshness:

•  Short-terminterestsareoqeninconsistentwithgeneraluserinterests.

•  Inotherwords:

–  Recenthistory"beherforfreshqueries

–  En<rehistory"beherforrecurringqueries

Forlibrarywebsites:

•  Stayfocusedonactualusers.Googleandotherwebsearchengineswillnotalwayscorrectlyinterpretyourcontent.

–  Writeaccuratelabels.

–  Minimizeduplica<on.

–  Allowforeasyaccessibility.–  Archiveproperly.

•  Remember,websearchengineshavecommercialinterests.

–  MarkersofQuality:TheRoleofLibrariansinEverydayLifeInforma2onLiteracy|PeertoPeerReviewhhp://lj.libraryjournal.com/2015/12/academic-libraries/markers-of-quality-the-role-of-librarians-in-everyday-life-informa<on-literacy-peer-to-peer-review/#_

Minimizeduplica2on–userobots.txt:

•  Recommendedforsitesearchresults.

•  CreateaURLstructurethatputssitesearchresultsinadirectory:

library.org/search/

•  Robots.txtatextfilethatsimplystates:

User-agent:*Disallow:/search/

Anotheralterna2ve:

URLsforyourreference:

•  hhps://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/6062596?hl=en

•  hhps://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/6080550?hl=en

Insummary:

•  Websearchershave3maingoals:–  Go(naviga<onal)–  Know(informa<onal)–  Do(transac<onal)

•  TestyourwebsitetoensureitALWAYSmeetsnaviga<onalgoals.

•  Op<mizelabels.

•  Implementgraphicimageop<miza<onforunknownandpar<allyknownitemsonyourwebsite.

•  Includeahelpsec<ononyoursite.Addresourcesover<me(andincludescreenshots,ifnecessary.)

Ques2ons?

ShariThurow,FounderandSEODirectorOmniMarke<ngInterac<ve

sthurow@search-usability.com

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