If you’re looking for an effective way to simultaneously enhance the user experience with you website and encourage online sales, an on-site search box is an often-overlooked feature that you can easily and affordably implement on your own. Did you know that nearly 50 percent of revenue from e-commerce sites is generated by the on-site search engine? While this functionality is not for every company and website, it is a recommended feature if your site is expanding rapidly. In fact, basic and advanced search functionality exists, depending on your specific needs. For sites with hundreds of different pages, the advanced-search option is the best bet to organize content.

The on-site search engine is a crucial function for conducting a successful online business, but it can also help content-oriented sites like blogs or Wikipedia gather and organize related information. The search box is also crucial for basic navigation, especially if a site is not organized well or if it is updated frequently with new content that doesn’t get called out in the main navigation pane.

Here are a few benefits of implementing a search box on your corporate website:

• On-site search improves the user experience. As soon as visitors cannot navigate through your menu or content to find relevant information, they turn to your search function. In fact, approximately 30 percent of shoppers use the search box on an e-commerce site. If users don’t see a search box, chances are they will hit the “Back” button and return to the search-engine-results page to visit the competition.
• The user experience is also enhanced because your visitors can find quickly find accurate, relevant information. You have very little time to capture attention and cater to the needs of your readers, so give them the information they want in a short amount of time.
• An on-site search box promotes ease of use, which keeps visitors on your site longer. The longer visitors surf your site, the deeper they go, increasing the number of page views and your SEO results.
• Visitors have more control over the browsing experience because they are not forced into scanning every page for what they need.
• Since outside vendors make search boxes easy and inexpensive to implement (and manage once installed), on-site search can increase your return on investment by converting visitors into customers and increasing your conversion rates.
• If designed and organized correctly, this functionality can make your site appear more professional and credible.
• Most on-site search programs come with tracking metrics that explain how your customers are searching for products on your site. By understanding how customers use search terms, you can revise how you label your products and write copy on the product landing pages. For example, if you label your product as “pop” but customers typically search for “soda,” you would revise your label and descriptive copy to be in line with how your visitors are searching. This will improve satisfaction with your site and boost sales-conversion rates.