Once a query is executed, either
through the query box or a search center, the user is navigated to the
corresponding search results page. The search results page is comprised
of a number of Web Parts that, when combined, allow users to view and
interact with the search results. The search results page presents a
set number of results per page, and then allows users to move to
additional pages by way of a navigator located at the bottom of the
results page.
As shown in the screenshots in the previous
sections, the results page for searches entered through the query box
and search center vary slightly in the out-of-the-box configuration.
The default search results page for queries entered through the query
box does not provide access to the Advanced Search page or Preferences
pages. It does, however, provide the scope picker drop-down. The
features discussed in this section are available for searches made
through the All Sites search page. These features can also be made
available for searches entered through the query box.
The search results page is composed of many
different components brought together by a collection of Web Parts. A
Web Part is an ASP.NET server control that allows a designer to modify
the content, appearance, and behavior of a web page directly from a
browser. Web Parts are the building blocks that provide the wide range
of customization allowed in SharePoint 2010. They present data, allow
for interaction with pages, and control the design of a page. In
SharePoint 2010, there are over 75 Web Parts that come with the
platform, and additional custom Web Parts can be created. There are 17
Web Parts dedicated to search. Each can be enabled or disabled to
change the available functionality, moved around the page to change
layout, and reconfigured to change behavior. The key Web
Part components of the search results page are labeled in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Labeled search results page
Figure 1
displays features and Web Parts that may not be enabled in every
environment. The following settings have been made to provide the
broadest overview of available features.
- The Search Actions Web Part has been set to display the “relevance” and “modified date” view options.
- The Top Federated Results Web Part has been enabled.
- The Federated Results Web Part has been enabled and set to display results from the location Bing.com.
Search results pages may include Web Parts
additional to those shown. Individual Web Parts may also be located in
different zones on the page, or be configured to act differently than
shown. This figure shows most of the standard available search Web
Parts in the All Sites scope, with their default settings.
Starting from the top zone, the Search Box Web
Part provides the ability to execute a new search query.When triggered, the Search Summary Web
Part displays alternative query suggestions for the current search
query below the search box. As shown in Figure 2, this Web Part provides query suggestions based on SharePoint's dictionary to provide users with alternative query options.
Figure 2. Search Box and Search Summary Web Parts
Directly below the search box, the Search
Statistics Web Part displays the numerical portion of the result set
being displayed on the current page. It also provides the estimated
number of results in the entire result set. Adjacent to the right of
the Search Statistics Web Part, the Search Actions Links Web Part
provides the ability to set alerts and create RSS feeds on the result
set. If enabled, users can change the order of the search results by
selecting a different sorting option from the “Sort By:” drop-down.
Users can also use this Web Part to connect Windows Desktop Search to
the result set. This provides the ability to search the result set at a
later time without manually opening SharePoint again.
Note
Due to security trimming, the search engine generally is unable to
determine the exact number of results in large results sets. This is
the reason the phrase “about” is used when displaying the total number
of results. When a total result count is exact, the term “about” is
omitted.
To the right of the Search Actions Links Web
Part is the Related Queries Web Part. If available, this provides a
list of suggested alternative search queries based on the aggregated
experiences of users in the environment. Below the Related Queries Web
Part is the People Matches Web Part. This Web Part, shown in Figure 3,
displays the first three people that would be returned had the query
been executed through the People tab. This is a useful tool that allows
people to not be included in the All Sites results set, while still
being able to see some of the top people-related results.
Figure 3. People Matches Web Part
Users may also find the Federated Search
Results Web Part in the right zone, which presents results from a
federated content source such as Bing.com or blogs. To the left of the
Search Statistics Web Part, the Refinement Panel Web Part allows users
to drill into search results by selecting known metadata such as result
type, the site the item is located on, or the author of the item.
Below the Search Statistics Web Part, the Best
Bets Web Part can be found, which, if enabled, provides suggestions for
the most likely items users may be looking for in a result set. Below
the Best Bets Web Part, the Top Federated Results Web Part displays the
most relevant search results from one or more federated environments.
The Top Federated Results Web Part is not enabled by default, and if
enabled, will be shown only if a farm is pulling content from federated
content sources.
The focus of the search results page is, of
course, the results themselves. The results can be found in the Search
Core Results Web Part located in the center of the page. Each result
contains several components, as shown in Figure 4.
Figure 4. Individual search result
Each result contains a clickable title, which,
if clicked, will provide the ability to interact with the search
result. Depending on the type of search result, the action taken when
the title is chosen will change. If the item is a Microsoft Office
document, a second window will appear, which provides the ability to
save the document or open it with the corresponding Microsoft Office
program. If the result is a document other than Microsoft Office, only
the option to save the document is provided. If the result is not a
document, choosing the result title will navigate the user to the
location of the result. Examples of non-document results include
SharePoint sites, lists, or web pages. The icon to the left of the
search result title indicates the item type for the result.
Below the result title, a
description is displayed. The description contains what the search
engine believes are the most relevant blocks of text from within the
content of the item. The blocks of content are not necessarily the
first block of text in the result or adjacent to each other. The
keywords from the search query are found in bold within the result
description. Under the description, there is a list of key properties
associated with the item. By default, the displayed properties are
authors, date of last published edit, and size of the file. Finally,
below the properties, an actionable link to the result's location is
shown.
The final Web Part in a standard search results
page is the Search Paging Web Part, found at the bottom of the page.
This Web Part provides links for navigating to additional search
results pages. By default, the number of results returned per page is
set to ten, but this number can be adjusted by the administrator.
Depending on how an environment is being used,
it may be advised to increase the number of results per page. Providing
more results per page allows for faster browsing of large search
results, but it does affect performance. Since SharePoint's search
engine is returning information only about the results displayed on the
current page, increasing the results per page will consequently
increase the amount of information that needs to be processed and
returned. Both the user experience and server performance should be
taken into consideration before adjusting the results per page.
The final major factor that contributes to the
search results page is the order of the results. The order of returned
results is determined based on document relevancy and SharePoint's
ranking formula. SharePoint ranks documents based on the frequency of
query terms within the file as well as the overall comparative document
value. Various ranking considerations are applied based on several
values such as keyword matches, query proximity, static document
properties such as file types, and user-driven weighting such as
popularity. The result is that a single document becomes a collection
of differently weighted ranking considerations. These weighted values
are then used to produce the order of search results.
The topic of relevancy is one of great
importance as it greatly affects the search user experience. The phrase
“garbage in, garbage out” is quite applicable to the topic of search
relevancy in that if users do not provide SharePoint with accurate
properties, then SharePoint will produce bad search results. Insuring
that users correctly tag, store, and rate documents will greatly
contribute to successful relevancy. If users do not consistently attach
properties to documents or store files in illogical locations, then the
number of values SharePoint can consider for relevancy decreases along
with accuracy. Companies should implement simple and consistent
practices for tagging and storage so that users can contribute to their
own success.
It is also important to understand that while
the front-end diligence of document management is the shared
responsibility of every user, the ranking formula is outside of
end-user control. There are, however, many steps that SharePoint
administrators and designers can take to improve result ranking.
The combination of the various Web Parts
discussed in this section create the net end-user search experience. To
successfully leverage SharePoint's search experience, users must be
comfortable with the use of most of these features. Each feature
contributes to search success through a different function. The
following sections drill into each of these features and their purpose
within the search center in more detail.
Search Suggestions
If enabled, SharePoint 2010 can provide search suggestions on any query box or search center dialog field (Figure 5).
Search suggestions (called query suggestions on the Search Box Web
Part) work similarly to Bing or Google search fields. As a user enters
a search query, SharePoint presents suggested terms below the search
box based on the partial entry of a query. By selecting a presented
search suggestion, that query will be automatically initiated and the
corresponding search results page will be returned.
Figure 5. Search box with search suggestions
Search suggestions are provided based on past
user experience. Over time, SharePoint tracks search queries that
result in a user clicking a result. Once a minimum number of clicks
occur for a particular search query, it becomes an available
suggestion. Only search terms that yield results that actually get
clicked will go into the search suggestion pool. A minimum of six
clicks per year is required for the term to show up as a search
suggestion. As a result, search suggestions become more abundant and
relevant over time.
