• Search Engine Guide, Thursday, October 2, 2008 2:15 PM

How well is your site search functioning? If the tool is not pulling up relevant content, or it's a pain in the neck to use, Stoney DeGeyter says that you may be better off without it.

"When site search is available on large sites, people tend to use them. That's good," he says. "But if they search for something you have but the search doesn't find it, they'll assume you don't carry it. What do they do from there? They'll move on to the next site. That's bad."

DeGeyter says that a good site search tool accommodates searcher's misspellings, can suggest related products if a particular one is out of stock, and provides detailed analytics that site owners can mine for keyword data.

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