Bad Search results

[phanna]

Hi there,

I have received complaints from my users that the Search functionality of my webhelp (created with Flare 4.1) is not good. I've played with it too and agree with them. Basically, the search results are not always relevant and often what people are actually searching for is buried near the bottom of the results. Do I have to write my topics with search in mind and not use words that I think people might use to search (I hope not).

My question: Does anyone have tips for making the Search more user friendly? So far, it's impeding users.

Thanks for any help you can give!
Paula

[NorthEast]

There's a topic in the knowledgebase about how the search rankings work.
http://kb.madcapsoftware.com/Default_CSH.htm#OUTA1008F

I find searches work quite well for me in general, but you might get poor results if:
- the term/phrase you're searching for is used very frequently in a number of topics, meaning too many results
- topic titles aren't very informative, meaning the user can't spot the topic they want from the list

Also, there are ways to improve your searches, such as using 'booleans' which let you search for certain combinations of words.
http://kb.madcapsoftware.com/Default_CSH.htm#OUTW1011F
In my projects I include a 'search tips' topic, which includes stuff like this.

You might also want to look at search filters, which would let your users narrow down their search results to a particular area (based on concept terms included in your topics).

[phanna]

Thanks Dave!
Do you know if multiple instances of a word in body have more weight than one instance of a word in say, H3 or H2?

[Richard Ferrell]

If a Search term is in H2 a lot of times then it could appear higher than it only be listing in a H1 once, so its a combiation of factors, how many times the word appears in the Topic, and where in the topic it is located. H1-H6, or body

[phanna]

Ok, thanks Richard, I'm going to invest some time in ensuring that my topics don't have less than useful titles and see if that improves things.

Cheers!
Paula