Searching for content within a well-organized site can be a breeze. However, the process of indexing information for retrieval is closer to bracing hurricane winds. A big thrust for information architects is resolving the difficulties in locating specific content objects within a site.
Website design requires integrating a database of a site’s content with a search method linking to the site's content. The architect must know in advance what types of items users will be searching for. Given this knowledge, the architect can develop attributes (tags, meta-tags) to classify the content of specific content objects.
Through the site’s search bar, users can query the database with their criteria. If the architect has tagged and indexed the content well, the user should have no problem finding what they seek. However, if repeated searches return results the user deems confusing or unrelated, they probably won’t spend too much time refining their query.
Living in a Google World
Graphical web brosers and search engines like Google and Yahoo have revolutionized the way we acquire information. But the ability to query servers for content forces information architects to design sites with a clearly designed navigation system at all levels of granularity.
Consider how often you type a query into a search engine. Now, consider how rarely the information you seek can be found in a site's main
portal. It isn't all that often. Typically, after typing in a carefully constructed search query (or a completely mindless one), we are whisked away to the depths of a site's content objects. Therein, we must trust the architect's skill to allow us to find other interesting items within the site before we hit the "back" button.
