Part 2: Understanding Search User Needs
12.0 Understanding Search Users, Queries, and Results Why do people search the Internet?
People use Internet search engines to perform many different tasks in different environments using different types of devices, such as mobile phones, tablets, laptops, or computers. Keep in mind that searches can be simple or complex, and the underlying task that a person is trying to accomplish may take multiple steps to complete. For example, a simple task may be to find the director of a movie. A complex task may be to find a movie’s showtimes nearby, purchase tickets, and get directions to go to the theater. Overall, search engines should make it easy for people to complete tasks by surfacing helpful results right away.
12.1 Important Rating Definitions and Ideas
Query : This refers to the text that a user types or the audio a user speaks into a device. In these guidelines, queries have square brackets around them. If a user says <coffee shops near me,= we display: [coffee shops near me]. If a user types <flights to New York= in the search box, we display: [flights to New York]. There are many different types of queries because people use their devices to do many things, from searching for specific websites to looking for answers to specific questions to browsing videos for inspiration. User: The user is the person trying to find information or accomplish a task. Keep in mind that users are people from all over the world: people of all ages, genders, races, religions, political affiliations, etc. User Intent : When a person types or speaks a query, he or she is trying to accomplish something. We refer to this goal as the user intent. Locale : All queries have a locale, which is the language and region for the task. Regions are represented by a two-letter country code, for example, "US" in the locale "English (US)". For a current list of country codes, click here. We sometimes refer to the locale as the task location. User Location : Sometimes more specific information about the location of the person searching is provided, usually a city or state. In rating tasks, this information may be shown on a map. Search Engine Results Page (SERP): The page a search engine shows after a user enters a query in the search box. The SERP is made up of result blocks .
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