By: Michael Douma | Source: onlamp.com

It’s a universal frustration. You just know that the piece of information you’re looking for is somewhere on a site. You click one link, then another, and another. You go back to the home page and try a different branch of the site. After dozens of clicks, you still can’t find the information you need. Then it’s back to Google and on to another site. At last you find one with an internal search engine. You enter your search term, and voilá!–the information you need pops up in less than a second.

If you want your visitors to have "voilá!" moments, consider incorporating an internal search engine into your web site. Search tools not only make your information easily accessible, but they also increase the time visitors spend on your site. An internal search engine may be a necessity if your site has more than 100 pages of content, if it is deeply hierarchical, or if its architecture is weak. If the purpose of your site is to provide in-depth information on a variety of specific topics, it’s ineffective to force a visitor to browse through your site to find the information he seeks. Even if you have designed your site to bring users pleasure through browsing, it’s still a good idea to give your visitor an effective option for finding something specific.

Hosted vs. Local

When selecting a search tool, you have two options: a hosted remote search engine or a local search service. If you have a hosted site (a site that is not on your, you can take advantage of free or fee-based services provided by companies that host search engines on their servers. You simply have to register on their site and you’re on your way. You can find some of these search tools at www.atomz.com, www.mondosoft.com, and www.picosearch.com.

Remote site search services offer several advantages. Your costs are significantly lower, as the software and maintenance are often free. Likewise, because index files are stored on the host’s servers, you save disk space. There is also less likelihood of downtime, because keeping the search tool up and running is of paramount importance to the host company.

The primary disadvantages of remote site search services are that you have little control over the indexing process and that you can’t change the code, add new features, or customize your search engine.

When you choose to incorporate a local search service, you install the search engine on your server and customize the tool yourself. The advantages of using the local approach are that you can ensure the privacy of your data, you can control the indexing process and search results, and that you have the freedom to implement new features.

The disadvantages of installing a local search engine are that indexing and maintenance is your responsibility, and that the index and installation files will use space on your hard drive. You may also incur costs associated with software acquisition–although free, open source software is available.

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