How to Take Advantage of the Coveo for Sitecore Feature Set
Have you ever had a hard time finding content using a website’s search? If you have, you probably got frustrated and left the site. Because we’re used to finding results quickly when we search with Google, we expect great search experiences on other websites too. So, if they don’t deliver it’s disappointing. Fortunately, Coveo has all the tools and features to prevent you from discouraging your users. It makes using your site’s search a quick and helpful experience.
Coveo also integrates seamlessly with Sitecore and offers many out-of-the-box features to improve the user experience on your Sitecore website. Coveo for Sitecore has the power to transform your website’s search experience and increase your conversion rate.
We recently implemented a robust Coveo for Sitecore solution for one of our clients which required us to use many of Coveo’s features. This client had a robust Sitecore content library, but its existing site search solution made it difficult for users to efficiently find the information they were looking for. Here are some of the Coveo for Sitecore features that were particularly useful for the client.
Dynamic Facets
For content-rich sites, facets are a great way to let users quickly filter down to a more precise subset of results. Often users have parameters for their search that can’t easily be conveyed in their search query. This is where facets come into play. Facets allow users to refine their query by specifying metadata for the items on the results page. Some common search facets include:
- Topic
- Content type
- Author
- Date published
Coveo lets you apply any number of facets to your search page. Users can select checkboxes with facets to pare down the results page to a more relevant subset. Then they can quickly find the result they’re looking for.
Dynamic Navigation Experience (DNE) is a newer feature that Coveo offers for faceted search. When implemented, DNE dynamically reorders search facets based on the query. For example, an Ecommerce site might show “Brand” and “Screen Size” facets if a user types in “laptop”.
Knowledge Panels
You’re probably familiar with knowledge panels in Google. When you enter certain search queries, a box appears in the right rail of the results page displaying a relevant image and key information about the query. For example, if you Google “Sudan” a knowledge panel appears with an image of Sudan on a map, and below it, information like the country’s capital, population, and currency.
Knowledge panels in Coveo work much the same way but are reserved for subject matter relevant to your site. Your content authors can create the knowledge panels in the content management system, and then specify the queries that will surface the cards. This gives the results page a more appealing look and helps establish a sense of authority about the subject matter your users are searching for. Knowledge panels can also improve user experience by giving searchers the information they’re seeking without making them click through to a result.
Folded Results
Folded results are a great way to surface multiple relevant results in a space-efficient way. Within a single parent result, a folded result displays a manually curated, logical collection of items, related to the search performed. Like cards, folded results are a great way for your site to demonstrate your expertise on specific subjects.
On a recent project, Velir worked with the client to set up Coveo folded results functionality on their search page. This client specializes in content about foreign countries, so they created folded results for certain country named search queries. This allowed them to feature their breadth of content about these countries in a single search result.
Quick View
Have you ever typed in a search and clicked through to three or four different results before finding what you’re looking for? Sometimes the result title and description can look correct, but as soon as you arrive on the page you know it’s not what you want. Quick view is an elegant solution to this problem. This feature displays an icon next to certain search results that allows your users to see a preview of a search result. It displays its body HTML in a modal window, without navigating away from the search results page. Users can then decide based on your preview whether they want to click through to the page.
Dynamic facets, knowledge panels, folded results, and quick view are just some of the many features that Sitecore for Coveo offers to make your site search easy to use. By offering these features you can establish your brand’s expertise on the subjects your users are searching for, and you can provide a quick way for them to get the information they need. This will also help them find more content you want them to see or maybe even get them to reach out to you.
If you’re interested in improving your site search experience with Coveo, reach out to us. You can also learn more about our Coveo expertise, or read more of our thoughts on Coveo to see if it’s the right fit for your organization.