1. Best Practices for Search for the Federal Government Marti Hearst Web Manager University November 10, 2009

2. The Importance of Search for Govt OMB memorandum, Dec 2005: “When disseminating information to the public-at-large, publish your information directly to the internet.” Pres. Obama’s memorandum, Jan 21, 2009: “Information maintained by the Federal Government is a national asset. My Administration will take appropriate action, consistent with law and policy, to disclose information rapidly in forms that the public can readily find and use. ”

3. A bit about me Professor at the School of Information at University of California, Berkeley.  Teach masters students  User Interface Design, Search Engines, Computational Linguistics, Visualization. Search User Interfaces Visiting government for 1 year  Updating usasearch.gov  Looking at site search alternatives.  Generally kibbitzing

4. Two Focus Areas Web search engines  The quality and form of your content  How your results are viewed in search engine listings  How your site is crawled Site search  The search interface  What is crawled  How results are presented

5. Outline Designing your site for effective search Site search interfaces Special considerations for web search engines An example of what not to do.

6. both content and tech people have to be focused on it together mention why using (free) book example add an exercise towards the start top 3 things to do right away don’t force h1n1, be sure swine flu too seo integrated into process

7. Agenda DESIGNING WEB SITE SEARCH CRAFT SITES FOR FINDABILITY HOW SEARCH ENGINES WORK

8. Use Proven Interface Techniques  Use modern search UI ideas that are known to have good usability.  Apply the principle: recognition over recall. Related query suggestions Auto-suggest as the user types Use faceted navigation where appropriate.

9. Search-as-you-Type (SAYT) As the user types, shows other peoples’ queries with the same word stems. Helps people think of additional words  (recognition over recall) Proven to improve search results.

10. Evidence-based Decision Making DATA TRUMPS INTUITIONS (Kohavi)

11. Use Evidence-based Decision Making User behavior determines if an idea is retained. A/B testing is a standard way to do this. 1) Make small changes to an interface. 2) Show the changed interface to a significant sample of the user population, show everyone else the original version. 3) Do this over time (~ two weeks) and for (tens of) thousands of users. 4) Compare what the two groups do over time. 5) Based on this, decide whether to keep or reject the feature.

12. Evidence-based Decision Making Example:  Dan Siroker on Obama for America’s website and video design decisions  Easy to measure the outcome: it is in money donated.  http://www.siroker.com/archives/2009/05/14/obama_lessons_learned_talk_at_google.html

13. Vote: Which Button is Best? count down counter

14. Which Button is Best?

16. Ease of Use: Summary USE PROVEN UI TECHNIQUES REDUCE EXTRA STEPS USE CLEAR LANGUAGE MAKE EVIDENCE-BASED UI DECISIONS

17. How Web Search Engines Work

18. How Search Engines Work i. Gather the contents of all web pages (crawling) ii. Organize the contents of the pages in a way that allows efficient retrieval (indexing) iii. Take in a query, determine which pages match, and show the results (ranking and display of results) Three main parts:

19. Standard Web Search Engine Architecture user query

20. Standard Web Search Engine Architecture crawl the web Create an inverted index Check for duplicates, store the documents Inverted index Search engine servers DocIds Crawler machines

21. Standard Web Search Engine Architecture crawl the web Create an inverted index Check for duplicates, store the documents Inverted index Search engine servers user query Show results To user DocIds Crawler machines

22. i.Spiders or crawlers How to find web pages to visit and copy?  Can start with a list of domain names, visit the home pages there.  Look at the hyperlink on the home page, and follow those links to more pages.  Keep a list of urls visited, and those still to be visited.  Each time the program loads in a new HTML page, add the links in that page to the list to be crawled.

23. Spider behaviour varies Parts of a web page that are indexed How deeply a site is indexed Types of files indexed How frequently the site is spidered

24. Four Laws of Crawling A Crawler must show identification A Crawler must obey the robots exclusion standard http://www.robotstxt.org/wc/norobots.html A Crawler must not hog resources A Crawler must report errors

25. Lots of tricky aspects Servers are often down or slow Hyperlinks can get the crawler into cycles Some websites have junk in the web pages Now many pages have dynamic content The web is HUGE

26. The Internet Is Enormous Image from http://www.nature.com/nature/webmatters/tomog/tomfigs/fig1.html

27. “Freshness” Need to keep checking pages  Pages change At different frequencies Pages are removed  Many search engines cache the pages (store a copy on their own servers)

28. What really gets crawled? A small fraction of the Web that search engines know about; no search engine is exhaustive Not the “live” Web, but the search engine’s index Not the “Deep Web” Mostly HTML pages but other file types too: PDF, Word, PPT, etc.

29. ii. Index (the database) Record information about each page List of words  In the title?  How far down in the page?  Was the word in boldface? URLs of pages pointing to this one Anchor text on pages pointing to this one

30. Inverted Index How to store the words for fast lookup Basic steps:  Make a “dictionary” of all the words in all of the web pages  For each word, list all the documents it occurs in.  Often omit very common words “stop words”  Sometimes stem the words (also called morphological analysis) cats -> cat running -> run

31. Inverted Index Example Image from http://developer.apple.com /documentation/UserExperience/Conceptual/SearchKitConcepts/searchKit_basics/chapter_2_section_2.html

32. Inverted Index In reality, this index is HUGE Need to store the contents across many machines Need to do optimization tricks to make lookup fast.

33. Query Serving Architecture Index divided into segments each served by a node Each row of nodes replicated for query load Query integrator distributes query and merges results Front end creates a HTML page with the query results Load Balancer FE 1 QI 1 Node 1,1 Node 1,2 Node 1,3 Node 1,N Node 2,1 Node 2,2 Node 2,3 Node 2,N Node 4,1 Node 4,2 Node 4,3 Node 4,N Node 3,1 Node 3,2 Node 3,3 Node 3,N QI 2 QI 8 FE 2 FE 8 “travel” … … … … … … … …

34. iii. Results ranking Search engine receives a query, then Looks up the words in the index, retrieves many documents, then Rank orders the pages and extracts “ snippets ” or summaries containing query words.  Most web search engines assume the user wants all of the words These are complex and highly guarded algorithms unique to each search engine.

35. Some ranking criteria For a given candidate result page, use:  Number of matching query words in the page  Proximity of matching words to one another  Location of terms within the page  Location of terms within tags e.g.,, link text, body text  Anchor text on pages pointing to this one  Frequency of terms on the page and in general  Link analysis of which pages point to this one  (Sometimes) Click-through analysis: how often the page is clicked on  How “ fresh ” is the page Complex formulae combine these together.

36. Measuring Importance of Linking PageRank Algorithm  Idea: important pages are pointed to by other important pages  Method: Each link from one page to another is counted as a “vote” for the destination page But the importance of the starting page also influences the importance of the destination page. And those pages scores, in turn, depend on those linking to them. Image and explanation from http://www.economist.com/science/tq/displayStory.cfm?story_id=3172188

37. CRAFT SITES FOR FINDABILITY (SEO)

38. Making Web Sites Attractive to Search Engines Called “Search Engine Optimization” (SEO) There is a LOT of information about this on the web  Most is about how to improve your site  Some is about “cheating”; avoid this There are many tools to help you too.

39. The Most Important Principle: Good, unique content trumps everything else.

40. Content is Key Web sites that are primarily high-quality, unique content will be ranked highly.  Not just links to other content  Not re-packaging of other content Example:  My online book was top ranked for “search user interfaces” within one day of site launch.  It is also top ranked for many related queries.

42. Web Site Characteristics These can lead to high search engine ranking (but no guarantees):  High-quality, unique content.  Linked to by high-quality sites.  Been around a long time with consistent content.

43. Keyword Placement Search engines place “weight” on words according to where they are used Place important words in  Title tags  Headings (H1 is key) and emphasized text  Visible body text  Description metadata – often used in search results snippets.  Alt text in images

44. Keyword Variation Describe the same concepts using different words within the relevant pages.  Compare “search interfaces” with “search user interfaces” in the next slide.  1 hit versus 4 hits in the top 6  I need to use more variation for the key concepts But it must make sense in your page;  Don’t hide dictionaries of words !  Can include them in the description metadata.

46. put in aw-stat logs

47. The Importance of URLs Meaningful, short urls improve search engine ranking and usability Urls that consist of computer-generated database queries can hurt rankings. Urls with lots of redirects also hurt.

48. The Importance of Titles The title tag determines what words show up in the search results title.  Make them descriptive of the site  Vary them to differentiate them. Example (next page)  Consistently varies the title to show how they differ.  But makes a mistake in the metadata description by putting the part that varies too far from the start, so it all looks the same.

50. Robots Exclusion It is important to check your robots.txt files to be sure they are allowing crawling. If your server can’t handle a lot of traffic, use the site map file to slow crawlers down.

51. Site Maps There are two kinds of site maps: 1. A navigation structure visible to users 2. An XML file visible only to search engines The latter is important to help ensure the pages on your site are crawled. You can also specify the frequency with which you hope the pages will be crawled. There are free tools to help you do this.

55. Examples of What Not To Do For both site design and SEO. Or … don’t mess with my dog!

56. Photo of Emmi

57. What happens when you search for recalls ?

59. What happens when you type http://recalls.gov ?

61. The lesson: make your url (web address) easy to find There should at least be a redirect from recalls.gov to www.recalls.gov Also, the url should match its description in the site title field!

63. Where is search on this site?

65. The point: the search entry form should be highly visible and in a standard position. Usually wide and centered towards the top or else shorter and on the upper right.

66. Where do I search for that recent dog food recall?

68. The point: do not make the user guess how your information is structured. There should be one search engine for all government recall information.

69. The point: do not require users to fill out structured search forms. This can be an option but should not be required. Showing categories with previews of how many hits are associate with each is better than lots of entry forms.

70. What happens after I search?

72. The point: use standard layout (unless there is a good reason not to) This site puts too much text at the top before showing search results. Also, searchers frequently modify their query It is standard to show the search form with the previous query at the top.

74. The point: do promote commonly requested information to the top of the results. This site uses “best bets” to promote popular content to the top; the user finds what they want.

75. What happens if I search for recalls at searchusa.gov?

77. The point: use descriptive titles. It is important to put the distinguishing information first so the repeated part does not dominate. For example: Home page: Recalls.gov Recent Recalls Food Safety Recalls Automotive Recalls

78. What happens if I search for car recalls at major search engines?

81. Answer: I don’t see recalls.gov

82. What is on the page for car recalls?

84. The point: use words that your users use. Notice that the main page for cars at recalls.gov does not appear towards the top. The word “car” does not play an important role on relevant page.

85. Tools for Improving Web Sites for Search Engines

90. Search Engine Information SEO  http://www.ninebyblue.com/ http://www.ninebyblue.com/ Keep current with industry  http://www.searchengineland.com http://www.searchengineland.com  http://battellemedia.com http://battellemedia.com Search Interface Principles  http://searchuserinterfaces.com http://searchuserinterfaces.com Search Design Patterns (Peter Morville)  http://www.flickr.com/photos/morville/collections/72157603785835882/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/morville/collections/72157603785835882/

91. Faceted Navigation For Structured Web Site Search

92. The Idea of Facets Facets are a way of labeling data  A kind of Metadata (data about data)  Can be thought of as properties of items Facets vs. Categories  Items are placed INTO a category system  Multiple facet labels are ASSIGNED TO items

93. The Idea of Facets Create INDEPENDENT categories (facets)  Each facet has labels (sometimes arranged in a hierarchy) Assign labels from the facets to every item  Example: recipe collection Course Main Course Cooking Method Stir-fry Cuisine Thai Ingredient Bell Pepper Curry Chicken

94. The Idea of Facets Break out all the important concepts into their own facets Sometimes the facets are hierarchical  Assign labels to items from any level of the hierarchy Preparation Method Fry Saute Boil Bake Broil Freeze Desserts Cakes Cookies Dairy Ice Cream Sorbet Flan Fruits Cherries Berries Blueberries Strawberries Bananas Pineapple

95. Using Facets Now there are multiple ways to get to each item Preparation Method Fry Saute Boil Bake Broil Freeze Desserts Cakes Cookies Dairy Ice Cream Sherbet Flan Fruits Cherries Berries Blueberries Strawberries Bananas Pineapple Fruit > Pineapple Dessert > Cake Preparation > Bake Dessert > Dairy > Sherbet Fruit > Berries > Strawberries Preparation > Freeze

96. Advantages of Faceted Navigation Systematically integrates search results:  reflect the structure of the info architecture  retain the context of previous interactions Gives users control and flexibility  Over order of metadata use  Over when to navigate vs. when to search

97. Faceted Categories vs. Hierarchies Stickers vs. Folders vs

98. Example: Medicare Prescription Drug Plan Scam If you have folders, have to place the item into multiple folders: Health Elderly Drugs Fraud Safety

99. Alternative: assign stickers to the item: Medicare Prescription Drug Plan Scam Assign categories to the item, rather than put the item into categories Health Safety Elderly Drugs Scams Physicians

100. Faceted Navigation User can start with any category, and see the results grouped by the other categories. Example:  Start with Health See results grouped by subcategories of Health, such as Drugs, Nutrition  Alternatively, user can group results by other categories: Click on Financial, see Insurance, Payments, etc Click on Teens, see results relevant to teens

104. Examples of Faceted Layouts

108. Best Practices for Search Thank you! Marti Hearst Web Manager University November 10, 2009

109. Ease of Use REDUCE STEPS

110. USE CLEAR LANGUAGE