Google Search Appliance Creating the Search Experience - Manual (Page 8)

Google Search Appliance: Creating the Search Experience Introduction 8
What Is the Search Experience?
Whenever an end user tries to find information using a search box on a Web page, the end user has a
search experience. The end user may be researching a topic, trying to locate a specific document, or just
trying to find an answer to a question. An end user's search experience has three basic steps:
1. Formulating and entering a search query on a Web page
2. Getting search results back from the search engine
3. Interacting with the search results
Following these three steps to search for information on Google.com has become an everyday
experience for many people. With the Google Search Appliance, an end user can have a search
experience that is similar to that of using Google.com. The search appliance can be used by various,
distinct groups of end users, including consumers and internal staff. End users can search enterprise
content, which ranges from consumer-oriented public documents to secure proprietary documents.
With minimal customization, you, as a search appliance administrator, can create one or more search
experiences that address the special considerations of enterprise search. With each search experience,
you can focus on the needs and levels of different end users. You can:
• Present customized search pages for specific types of end users
• Improve searches in ways that pertain to specific types of end users
• Serve results that contain the right information for specific types of end users
This document describes how you can use search appliance features to create appropriate search
experiences for your end users. The following table gives an overview of the major sections in this
document.
Section Describes
“Focusing on End Users” on page 9 How you can create different search experiences for several
types of end users
“Managing the Search Experience” on
page 13 How a search appliance feature called a “front end”
manages various elements of the search experience
“Improving Searches” on page 15 Which Search appliance features enable you to improve the
end-user's search
“Enhancing Search Results” on page 19 Which search appliance features enable you to enhance
results listings
“Changing the User Interface” on
page 24 Which search appliance features enable you to customize
the search and results pages
“Where Is the Search Experience
Created?” on page 25 Where to find features in the search appliance that you can
use to customize the search experience
“Search Experience Background” on
page 28 What happens to a single search query behind the search
experience