Internal site search, a hidden gem to leverage for SEO
Today, users take for granted the ability to search a site for what they want when they want it, getting immediate and relevant results. In reality, for many online projects, internal search is a “frill” and not a business tool, and so they set up a generic search box or unoptimized tool on the site, which brings no benefits and even risks driving users away. Therefore, if SEO and SEM activities are working and are actually bringing people to the pages, we have a way to leverage these visits, deriving valuable information from them that can be translated into an effective and functional search and navigation path. The first step is simple, and consists precisely in strategically setting up an internal search bar on the site with which to track and analyze the searches made by users, which can help us optimize organic traffic and increase revenue and conversions.
What is the internal site search or on-site search
Called on-site search or internal search, it is a feature that allows users to search for specific content within a Web domain by entering the desired query into a search bar specifically integrated within the pages.
When implemented well, this feature turns the site into a digital library where any information is easily found, allowing users to quickly view products, articles or services that they cannot find at a glance by scrolling through categories, or that they call out differently.
Typically, this feature takes the form of a simple white search box, allowing each person to type in a term or longer query and get in response a list of results of relevant pages on that site, those that are likely to contain what they are looking for. Therefore, an internal search function on the website can reveal a great deal about customers’ interests and expectations, as well as be a source of information for improving pages and content.
Why the internal search is useful
Internal search is not only a means of facilitating the user experience, it is also a system for optimizing various aspects of our design by analyzing the behavior and interaction of the people who actually use it.
Personalized internal site search is a crucial function for achieving business goals and ensuring a smooth customer experience because it provides more certain information by which the navigation path and the content itself can be tested, modified and iterated to ensure that it is always top-notch for users.
Knowing what the audience wants is the key to creating high-quality content, but in site construction and architecture, it is not possible to anticipate all user needs: no matter how precise and effective the taxonomy is, there will always be factors that will escape design because they are tied to specific moments or demands.
Here, then, is where what is apparently just a search box becomes (thanks, of course, to an effective ability to analyze the data obtained) an essential aspect of the way visitors interact with the website, to track their behavior and obtain important information about possible limitations of the site’s architecture, navigation patterns, and-in some cases-even keywords used or not used.
Making the content easy to access and uncovering gaps – in the texts or in the structural organisation of the project – are some of the main SEO challenges. In addition, we know that the user experience is becoming increasingly important for those who have a site, also in view of the start of the Google Page Experience update, and having a poor UX can limit the customer journey because it creates blocks to conversions.
And so, if we enable users to find what they are looking for easily, we will have visitors who are more likely to stay on the site, reducing the bounce rate and increasing the chances of conversion or engagement.
What are the benefits for users
In a nutshell, properly setting up an internal search bar allows customers to navigate the site more easily and quickly, even without having to go through multiple menus: simply type in what they are looking for and the system will find the relevant content for them, directing them to the right page. It is thus a direct way to take people exactly where they want to go, to the page most appropriate for their need.
Then there are at least three other tangible and immediate benefits to users who can use personalized onsite search:
- Reduced friction when searching for products or services
Studies reveal that 43% of visitors to a website immediately use the internal search bar: most visitors, in fact, are not aware of the structure of the site and prefer not to waste time browsing for information. With personalization, the search process becomes more direct and efficient, overcoming the complexities of today’s websites and apps, which are often dense with content in various formats, spread across microsites and subdomains. In addition, shoppers who use the search bar on e-commerce sites tend to spend up to 2.6 times more than those who do not use it, so the internal search bar is an effective bridge between users with a marked purchase intention and their needs, without forcing them into complex navigation or trial-and-error based searches.
- Increased relevance for each query
Users often encounter inaccurate, insufficient or completely irrelevant search results if the search engine is not configured with customer and industry-specific expectations in mind. Therefore, it is necessary to ensure relevance, which consists of two basic aspects: matching and ranking. Matching refers to the ability to find relevant records for a query, tolerating typos and including synonyms or alternative phrases. Classification ensures that the most suitable results are the most visible. Advanced search tools interpret the user’s online behavior to meet their expectations and needs, customizing results based on the user’s profile, and this results in results tailored to each visitor, which can increase satisfaction and conversion rates.
- Improved UX for site visitors
A long, cluttered list of results can frustrate any user: with personalized search, each person will see the results most relevant to their experience highlighted, with filters and facets that will make the interface more intuitive, even in complex searches. In addition, content can be pulled from different areas of the site to reduce the number of searches a user has to perform.
In addition to quickly driving customers to conversion, optimized and customized internal search can pleasantly surprise the user, causing them to discover unexpected content or products: we can configure settings to show related products, seasonal or promoted items in search results for certain queries, stimulating further interactions with the site.
The positive effects on the site and brand
Changing focus, there are also multiple reasons why personalized internal search offers a key competitive advantage for the site, brand, or company-after all, user satisfaction in searches translates into direct success for the business.
- Uncovering customer intentions
One of the biggest challenges for businesses is understanding what customers are looking for, often due to a lack of hard data on customer interests. Personalized internal research gives us a direct window into this vital information. Consumers, faced with a need, rely on search and expect immediate and accurate results. These “immediate moments” provide the perfect opportunity to connect with customers and understand their intentions. Every search conducted thus becomes a mine of analyzable data that gives us access to the direct expression of user needs, offering strategic insights for our business.
- Improving content detectability
Another hurdle is ensuring that all content is easily findable: as a website grows, locating specific information can become complex, and some pages, products or data may be more accessible through internal search rather than traditional navigation.
Provided the site is well organized and indexed, internal search can analyze each element and make all content detectable, regardless of the number of pages or documents on the site.
Internal search tools equipped with federated search interfaces are particularly powerful because they can perform simultaneous searches across multiple indexes.With a single query, a federated search interface can display mixed results such as blog posts, FAQs, and products in a clear and intuitive layout where relevance is calibrated to the specific needs of the company and the user. An effective federated search engine can also include synonyms and correct typos, thus increasing the likelihood of delivering relevant results to the customer. In this way, internal search optimizes the chances that users will find what they are looking for, increasing conversion rates without requiring additional effort on our part.
Personalized search also allows us, as mentioned, to highlight products or information that users might not discover by browsing the site conventionally, thus guiding them to unexpected discoveries that can enrich their experience and stimulate interest in aspects of our brand that might otherwise remain unexplored.
A lever to improve SEO
With this in mind, then, incorporating efficient and highly visible internal site search is not just a matter of making it easier for users to navigate, but is a strategy that fits right into SEO optimization practices. A site that understands and meets the information needs of its visitors can succeed in better building authority and trust, both in the public and with search engines.
The relationship with SEO is particularly relevant: optimized internal search helps distribute the value of internal links, guiding users to pages that might otherwise remain unexplored. In addition, by analyzing the queries entered in the search box we can gain valuable insights into users’ intentions, through which we can optimize content to meet their needs even better. This not only improves the relevance of the site in the eyes of search engines but can also inspire the creation of new content to fill any information gaps.
Exploit information from internal search to improve the site
It is precisely the internal research that can help us to uncover some of these gaps and to make the most of existing traffic, finding information that might otherwise go unnoticed.
Tracing the results of the queries entered directly by the users we can for example verify if some products are difficult to find within the site, if they have been nominated in an ineffective way (using variants of the term more sought and actually used), or even if there are related or latent keywords and new categories that might be useful to enter in the menu.
We can also verify that our contents – whether product pages, news or blog articles – really respond to the topics that interest visitors and that push them to a search in the appropriate box, and above all find new ideas. If users are looking for specific products that we do not sell – but are related to those of eCommerce and can become a possible source of business – or if they are intrigued by news or untreated topics, we can think of adding such content and therefore respond to market demands.
It is also important to understand from which page the search starts, because this information allows us to understand if there are deficiencies in the contents or if there are products that deserve to have a greater visibility (because hidden or very much in demand at that particular moment).
Why internal search serves SEO
In recent years, on-site search has regained centrality in the discourse of SEO and digital marketing experts, who have recognized its value to the broader cause of the site.
Confirmation of this also came from a talk by Stephen Rahal, director of product marketing at Coveo, at SMX Next 2022, who, as reported by Search Engine Land, focused precisely on on-site search functionality and its benefits to the project’s growth strategy.
“Content has become the main tool we use to create a dialogue with our potential customers and to cultivate relationships with our online customers: to grab their attention and engage them in conversation, it must be relevant and valuable, but also interactive,” he said. And to aid our efforts in creating quality content, we can use internal search itself, which is a useful compass to navigate our way through the overabundance of information in digital spaces, which can make it difficult to know what customers want from our organization, because it can cut through the noise and provide useful information about customers.
According to Rahal, there are at least 3 reasons why on-site search can help the growth of our digital strategy, namely:
- It provides data on user intentions.
- It can improve user experiences.
- It can help improve conversion rates.
Let’s look in detail at what these aspects mean and how these goals are achieved.
- Internal site search and search intent of real visitors
The goal of an internal site search engine is “obviously to return the best results for the query, and understanding the language is key to returning the best results,” explains Rahal, for whom “the way people search is often different from the content created around a brand.”
Therefore, the site’s search box is a great tool for understanding how people use language and can actually show marketers what words their audience uses, which is a way that can reveal true search intent. In fact, this information goes beyond basic keyword research because it offers more accurate, real-time insights that marketers can leverage in their content.
The information that can come from the search box is extremely powerful, because users using this feature express their intent, the query they enter, and internal search engine systems perform keyword research, matching words in the query with words in the content or products going beyond simple and basic keyword research, giving (to those who know how to analyze them) a wide range of signals that can serve to increase relevance.
- Internal search to improve user experience
“People don’t lie to the search box,” Rahal says, and indeed users are quite candid when they enter a search query into the box, which through this transparency can become one of the greatest resources we have for optimizing the customer experience.
In fact, detailed information about onsite search data can help marketers create better onsite experiences: whether it’s identifying the types of content searches people are most interested in or determining how easy it is for them to find the most relevant pages, onsite search has the potential to dramatically improve user engagement.
It gives us information about language, what they’re thinking and what they’re looking for, but it also supports us in optimizing the experiences we’re creating within the domain.
- On-site search to support conversions
Applying the information gained in this way and taking action to improve the process and navigation of users can naturally lead to providing a more effective service overall and also raise conversion rates.
In an example cited by Rahal, the website of a U.S. jewelry store had almost put a product out of business until they saw the internal search data: to be precise, that item was doing very well in the wholesale channel, but not so well on the retail side, but only by analyzing the search query data did they discover that that product was the most searched for by retail consumers.
The problem was not lack of interest, but difficulty in replenishment, of less than required quantities: thanks to the volume of internal searches, the marketing team discovered that the site’s customers were actually looking for that product and not finding it available all the time, which encouraged the brand to increase replenishment, resulting in the brand’s e-commerce purchase conversion rate increasing by 587 percent.
How to set up a search box: techniques and best practices
Turning to the practical aspects, placing and setting up the search box requires some tricks, because it is not enough to simplistically add a widget to the site to get the desired results and data. Moreover, there is the other side of the coin to consider: if the search function does not meet customers’ expectations, it becomes a hindrance rather than a help, because it turns into a barrier between users and what they are interested in, whether it is a product to buy or an article to read.
As a general rule, therefore, the box should be placed in an immediately visible area of the site, such as the header or the center of the homepage: classically, for the desktop version a position in the upper right corner is suggested, while for mobile pages it might be useful to provide a line at the top of the screen.
The design should be simple and intuitive, with a recognizable icon, such as a magnifying glass, and a placeholder that invites action, e.g., “Search here…” or “Enter a keyword….” The search should be fast and the results relevant, with automatic suggestions guiding the user to the most popular or relevant queries.
To set up a search box that is not only functional, but also functional for engagement, it is then necessary to consider some advanced aspects: search must be responsive and provide real-time results, with an intelligent auto-complete system that suggests popular or related search terms. It is also important to personalize the search experience based on user behavior, such as showing different results depending on pages already visited or products viewed.
Still, the internal search must be able to handle typos or synonyms while still directing the user to relevant results. In addition, it is useful to provide filters and sorting options to allow users to refine results according to their preferences, and of course the design of the search box must be responsive, ensuring the same effectiveness on mobile and desktop devices.
6 suggestions to optimize the internal search
The search inside the site is therefore a hidden gem that you can not overlook in effective SEO strategy, because it allows us to intervene to improve user experience and conversions and, In addition, it literally shows us what is missing in our content strategy and product range.
The expert Marco Bonomo, from the pages of Search Engine Watch, highlighted six simple tips for internal site search optimization that can help us to improve the performance of the site.
- Making the internal site search a part of the optimization routine
After setting up the internal site search feature and putting into practice the basics to monitor user behavior, we must make these analyses part of our optimization process routine. Metrics such as output rates, search refinements, or “zero result” search queries are particularly relevant for adding an additional layer of information to our audits and reports and offer additional data-driven insights.
- Using Google Tag Manager to find out “result zero” search queries
Analyzing search terms is a great way to get an understanding of what users are looking for, but what happens when the typed queries have not produced any results? Fortunately, Bonomo explains, there is a quick solution for this, namely the creation of a custom tag of Google Tag Manager and an event on Analytics, that allow us to keep track of these queries and to identify even more gaps in our content or product ranges.
- Implementing a smart search solution
To improve internal search we can use third-party softwares, especially useful for eCommerce: with these tools, navigation between thousands of products can be carried out more efficiently, simply implementing functions that help improve the conversion rate. Features such as automatic tips or suggested products have become a must in online commerce because they help to maximize the revenues of search on the site.
- Adding a voice search feature
Especially if we work in a B2C niche, “it is definitely worth considering adding a voice search feature to the site’s internal search,” the article suggests. Considering that smartphones and tablets are already generating over 50% of traffic, it makes sense to make the search on the site even more accessible by adding a feature that can only grow over time, as demonstrated by the trends in voice search.
- Consider disabling the Google search bar
Apparently, the idea of disabling the Google search bar (which allows users to perform quick and immediate searches on the site or app from the search results page) might seem bizarre, but it can be useful in particular cases.
For example, “a great e-commerce like Amazon might want to take advantage of the homepage to view custom offers and encourage users to buy items they haven’t even thought of, thanks to a clever combination of search history and flash discounts”, writes the author.
That then suggests you follow the guidelines of the Google sitelink search box and remove the feature for a short period of time, testing the results to see if this solution also works for our ecommerce.
- Using Google Data Studio for the reports on the internal site search
To make sure that an onsite search is really part of our optimization routine, Bonomo also recommends creating a dedicated dashboard in Google Data Studio for the weekly or monthly search. The key metrics he suggests to display are the main search terms, search outputs, search refinements, revenues, with the ability to filter by country and dates.
How to track internal site search: tools and techniques
Having seen how to intervene from a technical point of view, it is now time to learn how to “read” and exploit the data obtained from internal searches.
First, it is good to know what these searches look like and how they are tracked. When a user performs an internal search, the information entered is usually transmitted to the server through a query string, which is the part of the URL that follows the “?” symbol. For example, in a URL such as www.esempio.com/?s=parola+key, “s” represents the parameter that indicates the search, while “word+key” is the term searched for by the user.
The structure of these URLs may vary depending on the CMS used: WordPress, for example, uses the “?s=” parameter for searches by default, while on Prestashop the internal search results page will have a URL with a query string consisting of a “?q=” parameter followed by the keyword entered. When we use Google to search for a term, however, Google’s search parameter is ? “q= followed by our query, and other CMSs may use different parameters or allow more advanced customization, and for example, some advanced systems offer the ability to create “clean” or “semantic” URLs, which hide search parameters behind URLs that look like normal pages, thus improving the usability and potentially even the SEO ranking of search result pages.
It is important to configure these parameters correctly to ensure that searches are tracked accurately.
In order to understand what users are searching for on our site, the next step is precisely to monitor internal searches: tools such as Google Analytics offer the ability to track this information through the configuration of “Site Search,” which, once activated, allows us to check the keywords searched, the frequency of searches, and the behavior of users after performing a search.
Other analytics tools, such as Hotjar or Crazy Egg, can provide more visual insights through heatmaps and session recordings, showing exactly how users interact with the search box and what actions they take next.
How to track internal searches with Google Analytics
The best and easiest way to get all the data needed for our strategy is to use Google Analytics and associate the internal monitoring code of the site, also know as the set search parameter.
With the introduction of GA4 the settings for performing these checks have changed slightly, but usually it is enough to simply refer to Google Analytics 4’s advanced measurement, which can automatically track search queries, and some additional configurations to verify the data in the reports you need to run, as expert Julius Fedorovicius explains.
To verify that GA4 can actually perform automatic search tracking through advanced measurement, it is first necessary to “find out” whether the search set up works with query parameters. A simple check is enough: we personally use the site’s search function, enter a query, and launch the search. Now we open the page that has reloaded and read the URL, to check whether the search term is displayed after the question mark (as in the example yoursite.com/?s=my+keyword).
We then go to the Google Analytics 4 property and click on Administration (the gear icon in the lower left corner), and then on Data Stream (in the “Collecting and Editing Data” box), checking that advanced measurement “is enabled” (in the stream details). In this screen we can also see the 5 default query parameters that Google Analytics 4 recognizes: q, s, keyword, search, query. If our website uses a different query parameter in the URL to store the search keyword, we can add it manually, keeping in mind that we can have up to 10 parameters in total (separated by a comma).
In this way, we will have an overall overview of the visits to the site that included the use of the search feature and the interaction that occurred after the search, and then again a monitoring of user behavior, a deep analysis of the pages, and a list of the keywords searched.
We can therefore find out:
- How many pages people needed to find what they wanted.
- How many visitors quit and left the website.
- Which keywords did not generate good enough results, prompting users to refine the terms.
- How stubborn visitors were with their demand, based on the number of result pages consulted.
- Most common queries
- Trends and identification of new searches, which can help us find products to add or topics to write about.
- Identify common spelling errors or other ways to express something.
- Which areas of the site people choose to reach with the search instead of through a navigation menu.
- Which queries lead users to interact with the website.
- Queries with good conversion rates.
