Using a Kindle to help search engine efficiency!

Gary Rowntree, UK Account Manager for Siteimprove Ltd, has written a blog post for us on the results of the SiteImprove competition they ran from the exhibition stand.

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Firstly, thanks to the UKOLN team and University of Reading for hosting another great IWMW event. It was great to see so many familiar faces and equally pleasing to see so many new ones.

As most of you will know, Siteimprove were holding a free draw to win a Kindle. Thank you to everybody that took the time to enter and our congratulations go to the winner – James Parry, Web Development and Support Officer at the University of Oxford.

Part of our entry form asked four multiple choice questions about the use of each institution’s internal search. The background to this was a case study Siteimprove undertook with Leeds City Council that demonstrated how some simple changes made to commonly searched terms could generate significant potential savings. Please find a summary of the questions we asked below.

• Has your institution ever measured the variation in cost between handling an enquiry online versus offline. 88% of you answered no.
• Do you ever adjust the order of results on your search results page based on the offline enquiries you receive? 81% of you answered no.
• Do you regularly create sponsored links to promote upcoming events, i.e. open days and graduation? 56% of you answered no.
• How regularly do you review your internal search engine statistics?

18% selected every 2 weeks.
38% selected every month.
22% selected every quarter.
22% selected less frequently than every quarter.

A more detailed summary will be made available for any person that would like to receive it. Siteimprove are also planning to run two short webinars in August to explain the case study and demonstrate ways in which Universities may be able to make similar changes using their own internal search engine. Those that indicated they would like to take part in the webinars will be contacted with a choice of dates to attend. If there is any person that did not get chance to enter but is interested in learning more about the case study, then please contact info@siteimprove.co.uk for details.

We look forward to seeing you all again at IWMW12!!