It seems to me that Internal Search (customers searching within your site) is an area often overlooked in the daily tasks of e-business managers. To put things in perspective, up to 20-30% of a site’s revenues can come from internal search traffic. Obviously these searches may originate from an external search but key point remains the same – the information you can get from internal search analytics is vital in your quest for an optimized transactional site.
Although the general traffic flowing through internal search maybe as low as 1-5% there are some important differences that compensate for the apparently low portion of traffic. First, the click through rate for search is very high. A ball park figure would be 40-70%. Secondly, the conversion on internal search is very high. I have seen 2x, 3x and even 4x the average visit conversion.
It is difficult to say whether less or more searches is a good thing when measuring effectiveness of internal search. Some users, that know exactly what they want, will, much like in external search, be very specific on what they are looking for e.g. “Sony 40″ D3500”. Naturally, these users will have few searches that generate high click through rates. This is also the case in the support space where most people won’t yield until they have solved their specific issue. Conversely, a large number of internal searches are very broad and generate less click through and successful searches.
There are some key areas where the intelligence derived from internal search can be leveraged:
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Understanding the search patterns to optimize external search keywords strategies and search engine optimization.
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Optimizing merchandizing, pathing, and content on the site according to trends and developing needs.
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Spotting trends as well as tweaking product portfolio, bundles and promos (see below how Google links searches for ”Britney Spears” against specific events in external search).
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Actively “guiding” your customers to transactional areas using “recommended links”.
So if you haven’t already, start integrating the intelligence around internal search in your demand generation, site optimization and brand marketing teams.
