Making sure that your search engine makes it as easy as possible for your customers to find what they are looking for is business-critical. It is also very difficult – good search engines can cost an awful lot of money and require a lot of ongoing effort to keep them up to scratch.
As an example: on Monday 12th December 2005, I wanted to buy a copy of Jamie Oliver’s new cook book Jamie’s Italy from amazon.co.uk. So, I went to the “Books” section of their website and searched for “olivers italy” and these 9 items appeared on the results page:
1. “The American Tractor” by Patrick W. Ertel
2. “A Garden in Lucca: Finding Paradise in Tuscany” by Paul Gervais
3. “History in Exile: Memory and Identity at the Borders of the Balkans” by Pamela Ballinger
4. “Oliver Tractors” by Jeff Hackett, Mike Schaefer
5. “Wyoming (Moon Handbooks S.)” by Don Pitcher
6. “Wines of Australia (Mitchell Beazley Wine Guides)” by James Halliday
7. “All Music Guide to Jazz: The Definitive Guide to Jazz Music” by Ron Wynn (Editor), et...