Blog Searching -- Your Take
December 21, 2003 19 | Comments (Closed)
I recently received a question in my Asterisk FAQs section about placement of the search box on my site. This is something I’ve actually put quite a bit of thought into. It’s pretty far down the page and I don’t have it available on every single page.
This is generally a big Web design no-no.
However, when I did have it top right and on every page no one ever used it. I also realized that when I was reading other blogs I almost never had occasion to use their search either. So I moved it down and around. So far I’ve only had one question about it and no one seems to care.
Proves that there are no hard and fast rules for Web design. I think.
Anyway, I’m curious to hear what you all think. Do you search blogs? Do you ever have a hard time finding the search box on a blog? You might want to look around at your favorite blogs like I did — you might be surprised how often it’s not where it’s “supposed” to be. For that matter, where do you think it should be? Should blogs follow the same search conventions of other sites?
Filed under: Web Design
Comments
1. Scrivs said:
I have yet to use or even look for a search box on a blog. Most blogs aren’t the information resources as news sites or e-zines are so the thought of searching for something has never occurred to me. Almost like putting an index in someone’s diary.
Posted on December 21, 2003 10:09 AM | #
2. Simon Willison said:
I search my own blog on an almost daily basis, but that’s because I use it as external memory. I’ve searched Mark Pilgrim’s blog a few times for useful posts of his that I’ve remembered, and I’ve played with the XPath thing on Sam Ruby’s, but other than that I don’t think I’ve ever searched anyone elses.
Posted on December 21, 2003 11:00 AM | #
3. Roger said:
I also search my own blog quite often. Most of the time it’s because I’m looking for the links I’ve mentioned in some entry a while back.
As for searching other people’s blogs, I can’t remember doing it, but I know that there are people who search my blog. Not very often, but it does happen.
Posted on December 21, 2003 11:25 AM | #
4. Jon Hicks said:
Nope. never you us them either. Usually if I’m searching for a particular ‘thing’ I’ve come to that blog via a google search, so no need once I’m there.
Users do seem to use the search on my site, but its for things like ‘free stuff’!
Posted on December 21, 2003 11:26 AM | #
5. Suzanne said:
I get between 5-10 searches a month on my blog. Then again about 30% of my traffic right now is from search engines, too.
They seem to often be related to people having read something previously and then trying to find it, which I see as me having no clear way for them to find it without the search, bad on me.
Posted on December 21, 2003 11:27 AM | #
6. huphtur said:
a lot of blogs dont have search options, so i always search on their blogs using the site: option in google.
Posted on December 21, 2003 11:41 AM | #
7. ste said:
I’ve searched blogs before, but generally don’t do it often. Usually, it’s to recover a link that I know a person shared, or (most often) it’s just to find a similar post on my own site. I don’t generally worry too much about the search form (note the lack of one on my site for now) since I can generally just do a Google site search if I can’t find a search box easily. :)
Posted on December 21, 2003 12:41 PM | #
8. James said:
I’m a big searcher of my own blog, as I use it to augment my memory. As for other people? I do get some activity. Did you know you can see who uses MovableType’s search by looking at the MT activity logs?
Posted on December 21, 2003 02:31 PM | #
9. Alex said:
I have never used a search feature on a blog, and I don’t even have one on my site. The only reason I go on blogs is to read the current posts, so I have no reason to search of anything.
Posted on December 21, 2003 03:52 PM | #
10. dez said:
Like many others here, I search my own blog. One of the reasons I maintain it in the first place is as a repository for links and info my brain is too small to handle.
Posted on December 21, 2003 05:20 PM | #
11. arb said:
I rarely, if ever, search blogs. Usually I would use Google which might land me at a particular blog, but searching once I am there is not a thing I do. I would suggest, however, that you put the search back in the top right of the page.
More and more sites are placing the search box in the top right, so users instinctively look there when they want to search. I say stick with convention, or drop it altogether.
If a search box is not immediately visible then users may never know it there at all. (In fact, it was not until I read this entry that I realised you had a search box.) Hiding it half-way down the page is a sure-fire way to ensure that the number of searches on your site stays very low! ;-)
Posted on December 21, 2003 07:05 PM | #
12. Christian said:
Keith, your blog is one of the very few (or maybe only one) in which I’ve searched for particular information.
I think this is because you are one of the few people who actually write original content rather than regurgitating what has been posted elsewhere on the web and maybe adding one or two comments about it.
That being said, I have only done this very infrequently. So hide the search box below the fold, but please don’t take it away entirely!
Posted on December 21, 2003 08:17 PM | #
13. Keith said:
Christian - Don’t worry I’d never take it away entirely, for now it’s staying where it is.
This kind of discussion is great – it’s pretty much one of the only ways I can quickly gather user information about my site. I really don’t have time for anything formalized.
I want to add that I too search my own site quite often and frankly, as long as I find what I’m looking for I’m not concerned with anything else.
Posted on December 21, 2003 10:51 PM | #
14. Keith said:
Arb - I used to have the search right at the top and then I realized that I never used it. I think what you are saying is true to some degree, however, I’ve been thinking more and more that blogs are a different breed of Web site and conventions that work for “regular” sites don’t necessarily need to be followed on a stand alone blog.
I’ve got no usability data to back that up, but it’s discussion like this, my own observations and reader (user) feedback that lead me to decided to do things like push the search box below the fold.
I realize people will have trouble finding it – however I don’t think many folks are looking for it in the first place. On a different type of site I wouldn’t have done this.
I don’t care if people use the search box at all – to be honest if the search box was never used and people were finding what they were looking for I’d have a near perfect site!
As it stands I may be the only person who gets significant value out of my own search box. Kind of funny.
Posted on December 21, 2003 11:08 PM | #
15. MJH said:
I gotta be honest, I don’t ever use a search box on blogs. But I feel as though sites that include them are better than ones that don’t.
I actually feel more comfortable when i see a search box in the upper right than if i don’t. I know its foolish since i could do the google thing, but something says to me that since its there, the author must take better care of his/her site - and that there must be something worth searching for…
Posted on December 22, 2003 06:30 AM | #
16. Michael Heilemann said:
I don’t search too often, but when I do I always look at the very top for the search form.
Posted on December 22, 2003 01:13 PM | #
17. Houser said:
I’ve got one on my site, but for similar reasons, placed it a little lower in the layout. I’ve honestly never used it myself (except to test it), but I have used the one on www.ForgetFoo.com a few times when I was trying to find a link he had posted.
Posted on December 23, 2003 07:29 AM | #
18. Mike Steinbaugh said:
Yeah, I end up searching my blog the most. I use the search feature to pick out certain mark-up on my site, but never really for keywords. I find that I end up using the search feature on other sites only if they have a confusing archive structure or so many articles that searching is the fastest way to get there. Otherwise I just use Google.
Posted on December 23, 2003 10:36 AM | #
19. Anton said:
The only one I ever really search on a regular basis is ALA for css info and other useful tidbits, since there’s so much on that site to go through it’s just quicker that way.
Posted on December 23, 2003 11:46 AM | #
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