Companies store their content in different places, and it’s challenging to find what you need when you want it. But breaking out your search by file type, date, image type and link makes finding what you need fast and easy. Search is the primary way users interact with most enterprise sites. To help them find what they need quickly and easily, break out your search by file type, date, image type and link. Users will be able to refine their search results on first usage which will make getting back to where they left off much easier. It will also increase the discoverability of certain content types. In this blog post we’ll explore why you should consider breaking out your search based on file type, date, image compatibility and link as well as explain how to do so for each of these categories.
Why HapPhi breaks out your search by file type, date, image type and link?
The most common reasons for breaking out your search by file type, date, image type and link are: - Users have more control over their search: Searching for a specific file type can be extremely helpful. For example, if you have a training file that you only use once a year, you don’t want to search for it throughout the rest of the year. Breaking out your search by file type gives you the option to search only for that specific file type when you need it. This also applies to date. Knowing when something was published can also be helpful when it comes to limiting your search results. - Discovery is improved: By breaking out your search by file type, you’re making certain file types more discoverable. For example, if you have customer testimony stored in a certain format and you break that file type out in search, the search will show only customer testimony. If you don’t break out your search by file type, that file type might be buried under a bunch of other types of content. - Content quality is assessed: By breaking out your search by image type, you can assess the quality of the image. If an image is low quality, you can identify and replace it. If an image is high quality, you can identify it and use it more often. - Search becomes more intuitive: Breaking out your search by date makes your search more intuitive. Someone might be looking for something that was published last week. If you break out your search by date, users can quickly find what they’re looking for.
Define your search categories
Before you break out your search by file type, date, image type and link, you need to define your search categories. Doing so will put you in the right frame of mind and make the process much easier. For a file type, think about the different file types you store on your site. You should include all file types, even if they don’t get a lot of attention. Think about the kinds of information your site contains and categorize accordingly. For a date, think about when the site was published and when it will be out of date. You can also break out your search by event if you have a calendar of events on your site. For an image type, think about the different types of images that are on your site. You can also break out your search by how the images are used, such as in a slideshow. For a link, think about the different links on your site. These can be links to other sites, links to different content types on your site or links to different pages on your site.
Break out your search by file type
There are several file types that are commonly used on sites. Breaking these out in search means that users can just click on the file type they’re looking for and be taken to that specific content. If your site uses a CMS, you can create a content type for each of your file types. That way, you can search for content types in the CMS to find the file types that are linked to your content types. If you don’t use a CMS, you can create a folder for each of your file types. This will allow you to break out your search by file type.
Break out your search by date
Like file type, date can be used in a variety of ways. You can break out your search by when certain content was published, when it will be out of date or when an event happened. If your site uses a CMS, you can create a date field. That way, you can search for content published on a specific date. If you don’t use a CMS, you can create a date folder for each date. This will allow you to break out your search by date.
Break out your search by image type
The types of images on your site can affect the quality of your content. By breaking out your search by image type, you can assess the quality of the images on your site. If an image is low quality, you can identify and replace it. If an image is high quality, you can identify it and use it more often. If your site uses a CMS, you can create a content type for each type of image. That way, you can search for content types in the CMS to find the image types that are linked to your content types. If you don’t use a CMS, you can create a folder for each image type. This will allow you to break out your search by image type.
Break out your search based on link
Like date and image type, links have the ability to affect the quality of your content. Breaking out your search based on link allows you to see which links are being used and identify the ones that don’t belong. If your site uses a CMS, you can create a content type for links. That way, you can search for content types in the CMS to see which links are linked to your content types. If you don’t use a CMS, you can create a folder for each link. This will allow you to break out your search based on link.
Conclusion
The ultimate guide to breaking out your search by file type, date, image type and link will ensure that you are able to find what you need quickly and easily. Companies store their content in different places, and it is challenging to find what you need when you want it. Breaking out your search by file type, date, image type and link makes finding what you need fast and easy. Users will be able to refine their search results on first usage which will make getting back to where they left off much easier. It will also increase the discoverability of certain content types. Click here
