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Five fast ways to improve search and findability across enterprise networks

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Kristian Norling
Kristian Norling

This document summarizes a presentation by Kristian Norling on five ways to improve enterprise search and findability. The presentation outlines committing to search as a lifelong process, managing information lifecycles, optimizing metadata like document titles and keywords, utilizing employee networks to spread information, and analyzing search analytics and user feedback to further improve search. The document provides examples and explanations for each of the five approaches.

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Five fast ways to improve search and findability across enterprise networks Presented by Kristian Norling at Melcrum Digital Communication Summit, 2 April 2014, London, UK
Ask employees what their main pain points are when it comes to using enterprise networks and chances are “search” will appear high on the list. Yet a recent survey conducted by Findwise shows that while 78% of respondents believe finding the right information is critical to business goals and success, only 24% have a search strategy in place. Only 9% claim it’s “fairly easy” to find content, compared to 64% who admit it’s “hard” or “very hard”. ! While the problem requires resource and in-depth review to tackle effectively, there are simple ways to start the journey while getting a longer-term strategy in place. Five fast ways to improve search and findability across enterprise networks
In this session, enterprise search expert Kristian Norling outlines five smart tactics for improving this crucial element of usability and shares insights on those organizations currently getting it right. Agenda
intranät, råd hjälp, glädje, utbyte, mentorskap, debatt, events, nyheter, insikt, övning, konferens,kunskap, seminarium, fakta, flexibilitet, nätverksgrupp, inblick, idéer, information tips, upplysning, motivation, inspiration, nätverk föreläsning, handledning, diskussion, lärande, stöd, tanke, medverkan, utbildning, nöje, gemenskap, nätverksgrupp, samarbete workshop, erfarenhet, kunskapsdelning, samtal, vägledning
That was a bit of false advertising… 5 fast ways
1. Commitment 2. Dates 3. Information 4. Sneakernet 5. Metadata 6. Feedback 7. Analytics ! + Tech stuff 7 ways + bonus
#MelcrumDCS @kristiannorling
Lifetime guarantee
nathansnider
“Enterprise data simply isn’t like web or consumer data – it’s characterised by rarity and unconnectedness rather than popularity and context.” Charlie Hull, Flax Blog
Source: Julie Hunt Enterprise Search: Un-Cool and Mission Critical
Level of satisfaction with Enterprise Search?
18.5% Mostly/Very Satisfied
proimos
Five fast ways to improve search and findability across enterprise networks
1. Commitment
Search is NOT a project!
It is a (lifelong) commitment
2. Dates
Five fast ways to improve search and findability across enterprise networks
Five fast ways to improve search and findability across enterprise networks
! Delete Archive Keep ! Delete, Archive or keep?
3. Information
Information lifecycle management
! it is very important to have good information hygiene... ! Crap in = Crap out
Remember: information ROT Redundant Outdated Trivial
SCA Content Quality
Five fast ways to improve search and findability across enterprise networks
Five fast ways to improve search and findability across enterprise networks
Five fast ways to improve search and findability across enterprise networks
4. Sneakernet
E&Y
5. MetaData
Search engine optimization This quick reference guide outlines the method for optimizing content for the search engine to help Ernst & Young practitioners get more accurate search results. March 2012 A quick reference guide for Ernst & Young professionals Search engine optimization (SEO) is a way to help you and other Ernst & Young practitioners quickly and easily find the content you need using search. Imagine that you are submitting a successful proposal document that Ernst & Young presented to an automotive client for internal audit work, which you consider to be a good example. Put yourself into the shoes of the person who will be searching for an internal audit proposal for automotive. Which of the following documents is most likely to come back in a search for “internal  audit proposal automotive”? 1. Optimize core content This relates to the main content fields in all of our content repositories, namely the title/headline, abstract/summary and body/attachment, which are the three most important items in terms of search performance. ► First, identify a list of keywords describing the key content of the document that has to be added to the knowledge system, and rank these keywords. If you save documents in the knowledge system on behalf of a stakeholder, please ask the stakeholder to provide this information. The main goal of this step is to identify a list of search terms that should return this document as a result. ► Second, create an appropriate title. The title should be descriptive and contain the most important keyword(s) from the list of keywords created in the previous step. Example: Your defined keywords are: proposal, CCaSS, Americas, technology, advisory. Possible good title: Americas Advisory proposal regarding CCaSS in technology January 2012. ► Next, write an abstract (summary). If you work with a stakeholder, ask this person to create the abstract. The abstract should summarize the content of the document. Include the most important keywords you determined earlier. Note: If you have a good abstract that matches the document content, it is likely to show up in the search results. A good abstract will also influence the relevance of a document, determining how high in the result list it appears. Example of the title, abstract and attachment/body fields in a CKR
The document properties are a powerful tool for helping to increase the relevance of a particular document. Many templates within Ernst & Young are frequently reused, but often the document properties are never updated. Open document properties in any Microsoft document: ► Select the Office button in the upper left corner. ► Go to Prepare in the left column. ► Click Properties in the right section. There are three fields you need to complete/check: ► Author: This field should contain the name of the person who authored the document. ► Title: Enter the title of the document. ► Keywords: Enter any keywords that a user might use to search for this document. Insert the keywords you have created earlier in step 1 to optimize the core content. Examples might include the type of document (proposal, risk matrix, training), the engagement or project name, or any other keyword that someone might search. You may complete the other fields, but rules for these fields have not yet been defined. 3. Verify, define and change document properties of your attachment Check the document properties and metadata, if possible. This is especially important for all Microsoft Office files and PDFs: ► Ensure  that  the  author’s  name  matches  the  source  of  the  material. ► Correct the title field, if needed, based on the keyword list from step 1. ► Add each of the desired keywords and phrases to the keywords field. ► Save  the  document  as  a  single  attachment.  Don’t  combine  multiple  attachments  in  a   single zip file. ► For PDFs, if the information is incorrect, have the person who created the PDF recreate it with correctly edited properties. Don’t use titles such    as  “Proposal  PowerPoint”  or   abstracts containing no relevant information about the document. Do use titles such  as  “Americas  CCaSS  Proposals  …   fees  sanitized.pptx”  accompanied  with  a  descriptive   abstract stating the context of the document. Ideally, the most important keyword(s) from the keyword list should be mentioned in the attachment title. Note: Always consider if you download the file to your desktop and come across it a month later, would you immediately know what it is about? Attachments play a surprisingly strong role in improving the search results because the search engine goes through the attachments to pull up the most relevant results. Make sure the attachment title is descriptive and catches/summarizes the subject matter. 2. Optimize the attachment Note: You should clear out any values in the Notes section of a PowerPoint presentation that may not be relevant, such as content that might have been relevant to the original version of the presentation but is no longer valid in the current version, or
6. Feedback
Nordea Feedback form
Five fast ways to improve search and findability across enterprise networks
6. Analytics !
0-results 200 most use search terms
VGR Statistics
Five fast ways to improve search and findability across enterprise networks
Bonus: Tech stuff !
Five fast ways to improve search and findability across enterprise networks
Thank you
Links…
“Big Data lives – enterprise search is dead!” Really? Source: IntranetFocus
The Big Data Benchmarked Corporation? Source: VINT
Source: IntranetFocus Date - The silver bullet of Enterprise Search
“Enterprise search is the practice of making content from multiple enterprise-type sources, such as databases and intranets, searchable to a defined audience.” ! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterprise_search
SEO
 @jcolman: How to Build SEO into Content Strategy ! Building the business case CIO.com: How to Evaluate Enterprise Search Findability Blog: Building a Business Case for Enterprise Search
Information Architecture and taxonomies Early & Associates: 10 Common Mistakes When Developing Taxonomies Tagging Presentation: Social Tagging, Folksonomies Controlled Vocabularies
The Enterprise Search and Findability Report 2013
Books
ENTERPRISE SEARCH by MARTIN WHITE @intranetfocus
! SEARCH ANALYTICS FOR YOUR SITE Conversations with Your Customers by LOUIS ROSENFELD @louisrosenfeld

More Related Content

Five fast ways to improve search and findability across enterprise networks

  • 1. Five fast ways to improve search and findability across enterprise networks Presented by Kristian Norling at Melcrum Digital Communication Summit, 2 April 2014, London, UK
  • 2. Ask employees what their main pain points are when it comes to using enterprise networks and chances are “search” will appear high on the list. Yet a recent survey conducted by Findwise shows that while 78% of respondents believe finding the right information is critical to business goals and success, only 24% have a search strategy in place. Only 9% claim it’s “fairly easy” to find content, compared to 64% who admit it’s “hard” or “very hard”. ! While the problem requires resource and in-depth review to tackle effectively, there are simple ways to start the journey while getting a longer-term strategy in place. Five fast ways to improve search and findability across enterprise networks
  • 3. In this session, enterprise search expert Kristian Norling outlines five smart tactics for improving this crucial element of usability and shares insights on those organizations currently getting it right. Agenda
  • 4. intranät, råd hjälp, glädje, utbyte, mentorskap, debatt, events, nyheter, insikt, övning, konferens,kunskap, seminarium, fakta, flexibilitet, nätverksgrupp, inblick, idéer, information tips, upplysning, motivation, inspiration, nätverk föreläsning, handledning, diskussion, lärande, stöd, tanke, medverkan, utbildning, nöje, gemenskap, nätverksgrupp, samarbete workshop, erfarenhet, kunskapsdelning, samtal, vägledning
  • 5. That was a bit of false advertising… 5 fast ways
  • 6. 1. Commitment 2. Dates 3. Information 4. Sneakernet 5. Metadata 6. Feedback 7. Analytics ! + Tech stuff 7 ways + bonus
  • 10. “Enterprise data simply isn’t like web or consumer data – it’s characterised by rarity and unconnectedness rather than popularity and context.” Charlie Hull, Flax Blog
  • 11. Source: Julie Hunt Enterprise Search: Un-Cool and Mission Critical
  • 12. Level of satisfaction with Enterprise Search?
  • 17. Search is NOT a project!
  • 18. It is a (lifelong) commitment
  • 25. ! it is very important to have good information hygiene... ! Crap in = Crap out
  • 32. E&Y
  • 34. Search engine optimization This quick reference guide outlines the method for optimizing content for the search engine to help Ernst & Young practitioners get more accurate search results. March 2012 A quick reference guide for Ernst & Young professionals Search engine optimization (SEO) is a way to help you and other Ernst & Young practitioners quickly and easily find the content you need using search. Imagine that you are submitting a successful proposal document that Ernst & Young presented to an automotive client for internal audit work, which you consider to be a good example. Put yourself into the shoes of the person who will be searching for an internal audit proposal for automotive. Which of the following documents is most likely to come back in a search for “internal  audit proposal automotive”? 1. Optimize core content This relates to the main content fields in all of our content repositories, namely the title/headline, abstract/summary and body/attachment, which are the three most important items in terms of search performance. ► First, identify a list of keywords describing the key content of the document that has to be added to the knowledge system, and rank these keywords. If you save documents in the knowledge system on behalf of a stakeholder, please ask the stakeholder to provide this information. The main goal of this step is to identify a list of search terms that should return this document as a result. ► Second, create an appropriate title. The title should be descriptive and contain the most important keyword(s) from the list of keywords created in the previous step. Example: Your defined keywords are: proposal, CCaSS, Americas, technology, advisory. Possible good title: Americas Advisory proposal regarding CCaSS in technology January 2012. ► Next, write an abstract (summary). If you work with a stakeholder, ask this person to create the abstract. The abstract should summarize the content of the document. Include the most important keywords you determined earlier. Note: If you have a good abstract that matches the document content, it is likely to show up in the search results. A good abstract will also influence the relevance of a document, determining how high in the result list it appears. Example of the title, abstract and attachment/body fields in a CKR
  • 35. The document properties are a powerful tool for helping to increase the relevance of a particular document. Many templates within Ernst & Young are frequently reused, but often the document properties are never updated. Open document properties in any Microsoft document: ► Select the Office button in the upper left corner. ► Go to Prepare in the left column. ► Click Properties in the right section. There are three fields you need to complete/check: ► Author: This field should contain the name of the person who authored the document. ► Title: Enter the title of the document. ► Keywords: Enter any keywords that a user might use to search for this document. Insert the keywords you have created earlier in step 1 to optimize the core content. Examples might include the type of document (proposal, risk matrix, training), the engagement or project name, or any other keyword that someone might search. You may complete the other fields, but rules for these fields have not yet been defined. 3. Verify, define and change document properties of your attachment Check the document properties and metadata, if possible. This is especially important for all Microsoft Office files and PDFs: ► Ensure  that  the  author’s  name  matches  the  source  of  the  material. ► Correct the title field, if needed, based on the keyword list from step 1. ► Add each of the desired keywords and phrases to the keywords field. ► Save  the  document  as  a  single  attachment.  Don’t  combine  multiple  attachments  in  a   single zip file. ► For PDFs, if the information is incorrect, have the person who created the PDF recreate it with correctly edited properties. Don’t use titles such    as  “Proposal  PowerPoint”  or   abstracts containing no relevant information about the document. Do use titles such  as  “Americas  CCaSS  Proposals  …   fees  sanitized.pptx”  accompanied  with  a  descriptive   abstract stating the context of the document. Ideally, the most important keyword(s) from the keyword list should be mentioned in the attachment title. Note: Always consider if you download the file to your desktop and come across it a month later, would you immediately know what it is about? Attachments play a surprisingly strong role in improving the search results because the search engine goes through the attachments to pull up the most relevant results. Make sure the attachment title is descriptive and catches/summarizes the subject matter. 2. Optimize the attachment Note: You should clear out any values in the Notes section of a PowerPoint presentation that may not be relevant, such as content that might have been relevant to the original version of the presentation but is no longer valid in the current version, or
  • 40. 0-results 200 most use search terms
  • 47. “Big Data lives – enterprise search is dead!” Really? Source: IntranetFocus
  • 48. The Big Data Benchmarked Corporation? Source: VINT
  • 49. Source: IntranetFocus Date - The silver bullet of Enterprise Search
  • 50. “Enterprise search is the practice of making content from multiple enterprise-type sources, such as databases and intranets, searchable to a defined audience.” ! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterprise_search
  • 51. SEO
 @jcolman: How to Build SEO into Content Strategy ! Building the business case CIO.com: How to Evaluate Enterprise Search Findability Blog: Building a Business Case for Enterprise Search
  • 52. Information Architecture and taxonomies Early & Associates: 10 Common Mistakes When Developing Taxonomies Tagging Presentation: Social Tagging, Folksonomies Controlled Vocabularies
  • 53. The Enterprise Search and Findability Report 2013
  • 54. Books
  • 55. ENTERPRISE SEARCH by MARTIN WHITE @intranetfocus
  • 56. ! SEARCH ANALYTICS FOR YOUR SITE Conversations with Your Customers by LOUIS ROSENFELD @louisrosenfeld