Using Search on Joomla Sites
Nov 04 2008 - Tagged in: Joomla Sites , blogging
According to Steve Krug (aka Don't Make Me Think), there are two type of site visitors. Those that come to your site and start browsing, and those that tend to look for a search as their first step.
Brian Teeman (new blog, check it out), notes that most sites, Joomla or otherwise have the search in the top right. A convention worth keeping to.
I have gone back and forth with what type of search to use. I used to use the Joomla search, then I switched to the Google search. Steve Burge notes that there are some reasons not to use site search.
I might actually go back to using the Joomla search. Not for any of the reasons Steve gives, but more because of a feature of Joomla I recently re-discovered. The search component in Joomla allows you to log the search terms people are using. This is really useful as it allows you see what terms people are using to get to your content. Useful intelligence to make your site more accessible!
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stevealledia
said:
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... Hey Barrie - have you seen this idea for tracking searches? http://forum.joomla.org/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=269439 |
DeAndrea
said:
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... So, How do you turn on this cool feature of Joomla? I am working on keyword research right now and this would be tremendously helpful. |
dpk
said:
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... The problem is, Joomla's site search is really unintelligent in the way it produces results. There are some 3rd party alternatives, but I don't know if they offer the tracking you want, unless they use Google site search--which presumably can be tracked through Google analytics. Or not? Google analytics gives you search term tracking for search queries leading to your site, presumably through google, but maybe other engines as well. |
Aktuelle Nachrichten
said:
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... I think those that tend to look for a search as their first step simply go to google. I don't know many visitors who really use on site search tools |
dpk
said:
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... @Aktuelle: it depends on the kind of site. If you have a site that publishes a lot of data or articles that people are going to be looking for very specifically, they use site search. Joomla is pretty bad at this and doesn't even provide a good chronological listing of content, which is another way people search. |
matures
said:
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... The system of comments in Joomla is bad... Joomla Search is not a mature system, must evolve. |
The Joomla Mombo
said:
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... The joomla search tools have been lacking, I know I don't use them very much because of this. |
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