{"id":112212,"date":"2023-06-29T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-06-29T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dacgroup.com\/internal-site-search-engine-optimisation-the-treasure-right-under-our-noses\/"},"modified":"2024-12-30T07:34:04","modified_gmt":"2024-12-30T12:34:04","slug":"internal-site-search-engine-optimisation-the-treasure-right-under-our-noses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dacgroup.com\/en-gb\/insights\/blog\/search-optimization\/internal-site-search-engine-optimisation-the-treasure-right-under-our-noses\/","title":{"rendered":"Internal site search engine optimisation: The treasure right under our noses"},"content":{"rendered":"

Although the phrase \u201cknowledge is power\u201d was likely coined by Sir Francis Bacon way back in 1597, it has been repeated in the writings of many throughout history and continues to resonate today\u2014especially at Google.<\/p>\n

Since the search giant\u2019s inception in 1999, the people behind it have been gaining knowledge about humanity, usually without even asking. By spending billions on developing a search engine, Google has become the arena where we share our hopes, fears, curiosity, and desires more than we do with each other. With this user input, Google has built an empire of services\u2014Google Maps, Google News, self-driving cars, YouTube, Shopping, AI, Gmail, Google Docs, and more\u2014that evolves daily to satisfy the needs and wants of literally billions of people.<\/p>\n

But this blog post isn\u2019t about Google, which is by no means the only treasure trove of information.<\/p>\n

The inevitable rise of internal search engines<\/span><\/h2>\n

Internal search engines are important tools for users who have difficulty navigating a site\u2019s IA (information architecture), whether they\u2019re looking for older content or tracking down content that has no obvious path. According to Forrester research, up to 43% of users will attempt to find products or content using the site search<\/a>. Unfortunately, unlike Google, most internal search engines tend to be hastily set up, not sufficiently tested, and subsequently underutilised. As a result, site search engine results are not helpful, which can result in users either avoiding them entirely, using Google to navigate the site instead, or switching to a Google alternative. This is a major missed opportunity.<\/p>\n

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While SEOs spend most of their time focusing on analysing user data from the major search engines like Google and Bing<\/a>, they should also use these skills on sites\u2019 internal search engines. If set up correctly, the internal search engine can provide a wealth of information about the customers and users on any given website, such as:<\/p>\n