SearchImprove can use groups to give the user the opportunity to narrow search results, either before the search is made or subsequently.
Pages can be grouped by patterns in the data collected, whether it is in the URLs, page titles, content items such as bread crumb trails and section headings, or metadata.
Automatic creation of groups on the basis of metadata
Groups can be created on the basis of the content of certain metatags. For example, a group can be created for each unique value appearing in the metatag Author, which brings together pages which are written by the same author in one group. If there are more values in one metatag, after the separator has been identified, then groups can be set up for each unique value.
In the following example two groups will be created: one named group name, and one named group name 2:
<META NAME="group" CONTENT="group name, group name 2">
This method for creating groups should happen automatically when content is captured and indexed the first time. This is typically a task carried out by SiteImprove.
Manual creation of groups
Groups can be set up under Site → Groups → Create group.
Groups can be formed on the basis of specific URL patterns, or content of the collected items, such as metadata, or content on the page such within the breadcrumb.
Example:
Aim:
Grouping all pages from the site’s news section.
Cases:
Site 1 has a URL structure reflecting the site hierarchy:
- http://www.example.com/news.html
- http://www.example.com/news/news1.html
- http://www.example.com/news/news2.html etc.
Site 2 does not have this type of structure, but uses the breadcrumb path consistently, so it follows this pattern:
- Home > News
- Home > News > News 1
- Home > News > News 2 etc.
Solution for site 1:
Grouping with the URL match http://www.example.com/news This will include both the front page ... news.html as well as sub pages ...news/news1.html and ...news/news2.html.
Method: Create a new group on the group-summary page. Give the group a name for your own use, as well as a presentation name to be used on the search results page.
Go to the tab URL match. Enter the desired URL pattern and click Add. After the next update, the number of pages that match the criteria will appear in the group.
Solution for site 2:
Since the breadcrumb path is an element which is part of the page's content, it is included under the body of the page. The solution is therefore grouping with the body-match at Home> News in the breadcrumb path.
Method: Create a new group on the group-summary page. Give the group a name for your own use, as well as a presentation name to be used on the search results page.
Go to the tab Body tag match. Choose Breadcrumb from the drop-down menu. Enter the desired pattern in the Match box and click Add. After the next update, the number of pages that match the criteria will appear in the group.
Viewing groups on the search results page
The previous section explained how to divide pages of a website into groups. For the user to be able to use these groups to narrow the search results, they must be included in the search results page.
There is accessed through Setup → Package → Groups and Basic Display Options.
This page has simple options to control how search results are presented. It is possible to specify how much excerpt text is presented for each search result, whether the keyword should be highlighted on the landing page, how many results to be presented on the search results page etc.
The bottom of the page displays the groups that are available for the search. Selection of the group must be selected for it to display with the search results, and whether it should be possible to narrow search results to include only this group. The column sequence determines the order of presentation for the group list.