Reference

SciVisum Research
Resource List

Implementing Search Engines:

Introduction
SciVisum Top 10 Tips
Survey Results Summary

New to SOCITM Better Connected 2004

Search Engine Performance

Although search engines provide a vital navigation tool for visitors and for many they are the primary tool for locating information, it is clear that they are not being properly implemented.

SciVisum were approached by SOCITM to profile the quality of search engines being run across local government. Testing was conducted under the following headings:
Availability of search engines
Search options available
Resilience to simple errors
Hits per page
Quality of help supplied

4% of sites passed all 5 tests
21% of sites passed 4 out of 5 tests
confirming expectations about poor search engine implementation on council websites.

Usability guru, Jakob Nielsen, on www.useit.com

Consistent with SciVisum testing of website functionality across the board, this test report shows that search engines are all too often being ‘hand crafted’ uniquely by organisations, and insufficient effort is being taken to ensure that functions are engineered properly for stability, consistency and ease of use.

The end result is search engines that provide neither a stable support to users, nor a stable and consistent load on the web server.

Information reproduced courtesy of SOCITM Better Connected Survey 2004