As Web 2.0 principles inspire new Enterprise 2.0 applications, enterprise search strategies will be critical to overall success and user adoption. Miles Kehoe at New Idea Engineering outlines how applying user behavior-based taxonomies improves findability and satisfaction. From his blog Enterprise Search:
"Taxonomies continue to be popular in companies, but I have to wonder if they are really that useful for the majority of organizations. I can’t tell you how many times I‘ve had otherwise intelligent people tell me “We plan to implement a corporate enterprise search solution – as soon as we finish our taxonomy project”. When I hear this, I know search won’t be happening for at last two years or more, and in the meantime every visitor to the web site suffers. Usually I spend a few seconds feeling sorry for their users and/or employees, but then I realize that innovative companies with real work to do are moving ahead full speed with Enterprise Search 2.0 platforms and I feel better.... and....
If your search engine can provide great results for the ‘top 100’ queries on your site, you have a lot of happy users. Why do you think search experts at trade shows have finally started talking about your search logs? You can't know what your behavior-based taxonomy (BBT) is unless you are monitoring your search activity at least quarterly. Verify that the ‘top 100’ queries are working fine - either with organic search results or with featured links (or best bets or result promotion, depending on your search vendor).
You keep your Behavior Based Taxonomy up-to-date, and your search users will be satisfied!"
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