Are You Giving Your Visitors What They Want?
I love giving my visitors what they want.
Unfortunately this isn’t always the case and you will end up with disappointed people who just can’t find what they are searching for on your site.
Wouldn’t it be great if you could capture the information that people search for on your site?
You could then use this information to make sure you have that content sitting ready to serve up the next time someone searches on your site with the same or similar search query.
Introducing…
Search Meter
So what exactly is Search Meter. To quote the plugin creator:
“If you have a Search box on your blog, Search Meter automatically records what people are searching for — and whether they are finding what they are looking for. Search Meter’s admin interface shows you what people have been searching for in the last couple of days, and in the last week or month. It also shows you which searches have been unsuccessful. If people search your blog and get no results, they’ll probably go elsewhere. With Search Meter, you’ll be able to find out what people are searching for, and give them what they want by creating new posts on those topics.”
Now I think you’ll agree this is some very cool information to have!
You will need to running a self-hosted WordPress install to use the Search Meter Plugin (you can get it from here).
After you have installed and activated the Search Meter plugin (read this post to see how to install plugins on your self-hosted WordPress site) head straight to the ‘search meter‘ tab under ‘settings‘ to configure your install.
Now, after you have had a good number of visitors to your site you will be able to check your Search Meter Stats (located at the ‘Search Meter’ link under your WordPress ‘Dashboard’ tab.
You will now see a summary of the successful and unsuccessful search terms that have been entered on your site.
You can click at the top to see this break down in ‘Summary’ view (default), ‘Last 100 Search’ view and ‘Last 500 Searches’ view.
Under summary view you will also see your ‘Unsuccessful Search Summary’.
The more people that search your site using your search box, the more data will be collected.
Now, if you see the same query presenting itself over-and-over again you can now write some content to serve up for future searchers.
I hope you can see the possibilities in having this data to hand and how you can us it to serve your visitors.
To your success,
Karl
P.s. For an advance website visitor tracking package take a look at Click Web Analytics.
29 Comments
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
- Karen - RT @fmsseo: Are You Giving Your Visitors What They Want? http://bit.ly/bg5j4K
- Famous Bloggers - RT @fmsseo: Are You Giving Your Visitors What They Want? http://bit.ly/bg5j4K
Another great plugin for WordPress site. Many webmasters would be very much interested to use it because they can easily monitor the standing of their visitors’ searches over their site.
Cole Stan recently posted..Birthday Gifts for Dad- You Can’t Go Wrong with These 3 Great Birthday Gifts for Dads
Hi Karl,
Actually on blogger at the moment – but this looks useful.
Thanks once again for all your help with the great tips to improve exposure at http://noaspa.blogspot.com/
Best wishes
Will
Will recently posted..Good Noaspa News – 25082010
You’re are more than welcome Will and I’m glad you found the information I sent you useful.
Karl
Well, this is something I’m going to have to think about. It never really occurred to me that anybody would be using the search function on my blog on that often, especially since I do so much linking within my posts. Of course I have to admit that if someone searched for something on my blog and didn’t find it the most probably I wasn’t interested in writing about it to begin with, so I might not write on it even after I knew that someone had looked for it. But I guess you never know, which is why I’m going to think about it a little bit longer. Thanks for the information.
Mitch recently posted..Are You Restricting Your Influence
Let me know if you us it Mitch and what searches you discover!
Hi Karl! Long time no see!
Great article. I just launched a brand new website/blog (see comment luv link below) that includes a search box – so I just installed this plugin. Looking forward to see the results!
Thanks for the heads up!
- Don
Don Power – Promotional Video Producer | Social Media Manager recently posted..Promotional Video Intro – Big Red Tomato Company
Hey Don, always a pleasure to have you here and yes, it has been a long time since we spoke.
I have to admit to lurking on your site a few times and I watched your ‘Guru’ driving while filming video.
Karl
Hahah! Thanks Karl!
Don Power recently posted..Promotional Video Intro – Big Red Tomato Company
I would be really interested to use this on blog engage and it’s search. I wonder what people are searching on the main site. I know they use it. one day I made a coding error and I have about 9 e-mails within the first day.
It always amazes me because I rarely use searches… and if I do it’s on google
Brian recently posted..Top articles at blog engage week of Aug 23 – 27 2010
I guess I’m like you Brian. I know the power of Google and how to manipulate the search to pull back the info I want, even when it is from someone’s personal site.
Thanks for the review. I just installed this plugin. I generally use Google’s Web Trending tools in conjunction with Google Analytics. It will be interesting to see what terms if any people are typing into my search box. Thanks
Nate Balcom recently posted..Quick Tips for Better Blogging
You can never have enough information hey Nate.
this is a great tool for people to easily remember what they are looking for. You can actually come up with ideas for new topics depending on what theyre searching.
Cindy recently posted..Now Accepting Guest Articles with Adsense Share
Absolutely Cindy. You can also see what articles you’ve written that people are actively searching for to read again.
This is a good idea, I was just using Web Master tools and find out what people were searching for online to arrive at my site, but I honestly never thought to capture what people might be typing when they search on my URL bar on my site.
Question, for those that use the Google Search Bar configured on their blogs, do these results get tracked automatically by Analytics or Web Master Tools? I don’t know as I don’t use a Google Search bar on my site.
Justin Germino recently posted..Dragon Blogger Interviewed by Antonio Coleman
Hey Justin, great to see you here. This link should tell you more about custom site search and analtyics.
Regards,
Karl
I’ve been trying to see what others are searching for my using my stats from stat counter and google analytics, but I think I will install this plugin. It seems to be one that will be very beneficial to me. That way, I don’t have to venture to the other sites to check what others are searching for.
I’ll install it.
Thanks for sharing!
-Evelyn
Evelyn @ Become a Healthier You recently posted..10 Killer Steps to a Better Blog- A Step by Step Guide to a Better Blog
Hey Evelyn, certainly give it a try, you may be like us and be surprised about some of the searches that people actually perform on your site.
This looks like one promising plugin I just might install on my blog, especially for me who struggles to find something new to write about; In which case, I also might put back and move my search box somewhere more noticeable, e.g. on the center just above the posts list and excerpts.
James Moralde recently posted..How I Got Wireless Internet For My Laptop At Home
Moving the search box is certainly a good test to determine user interaction James. Let me know if it increases site searches performed in that manner!
This looks similar to Psychic Search by MaxBlogPress that I’ve used before. Its really helpful data although I tend to run it in short spurts and then uninstall it due to trying to keep my installed plugin list to a minimum. Good stuff!
Kimberly
Kimberly Castleberry recently posted..Wordcamp Savannah 2010 Wrapup!
I’m like that Kimberly and tend to use plugins for a certain period of time. If I don’t find myself using a plugin enough to warrant it being ‘active’ then I deactivate it again.
Great to see you here Kimberly.
Karl
Installing now, thanks Karl.
Trey asked my question. I know I only use blog search bars when i already know a word or two from a specific title I’m looking for; otherwise the categories work great.
I suppose this being the case, it would reaffirm what is popular among topics you’ve already written bout.
Dennis Edell @ Direct Sales Marketing recently posted..A Personal Post – Do Not Skim
Absolutely Dennis, on that note it is a good way to find what content that people want to re-read and maybe promote it in a more prominent way.
Very good point. most bloggers, myself included, realy heavily on the comment count for this; while good it isn’t perfect, this is a good addition.
Dennis Edell @ Direct Sales Marketing recently posted..Twitter Weekend part1 – Now Would be a Good Time to Follow Me
Hey Karl,
This seems like a very helpful plugin to have on a blog. A couple thoughts though.
I’m not sure how other people use the “search” feature, but I usually use it to find posts that I have already read. If a user is just browsing, a well organized menu bar would probably be the best approach. On the other hand, if people are searching for a specific thing that is not on your site, that might be a great resource for new topics.
I’d also be a little concerned with whether or not a plugin like this would slow the performance of the website. Have you noticed anything like that?
Trey – Swollen Thumb Entertainment recently posted..New Album- “Lighting The Fuse” Available NOW!
Absolutely Trey, that is where this plugin comes in very handy, when you see enough interest in a topic (a few searches or more) you can then write up a post for future searches (if they happen).
I’ve not noticed any slow down on the site through using the plugin. That being said, if a plugin is not of any real value to your needs then it should be dropped. I’ve also not noticed any penalties as of yet netted out for average to slow loading sites.
Hi Karl,
Thanks for introducing this cool plugin..Does this plugin works for customized Google & Bing search bars too??
Jakes recently posted..How to create a favicon for your website
Unfortunately it only works with your sites built in search function.