If you are interested in usability, the chapters on the design, presentation, and evaluation of search interfaces will be of interest. For SEO, Heart has some relevant chapters on personalization in search and emerging trends such as multimedia, social and mobile search. Interestingly, she cites research that shows that more content does not necessarily equate to better search results for complex queries – which has ramifications for mobile search. The section on multimedia search highlights some of the difficulties in using text-based queries to capture non-text results, plus the challenges of using non-text queries (like images, such as Google’s Goggles) to retrieve information.

One chapter to of note for both usability and SEO experts is her chapter on models of the information seeking process. Hearst gives a great overview of the most common models of searching, including the standard information seeking process, cognitive and dynamic models, and models for search in stages, search as a strategic process, and sensemaking.

If you are interested in Hearst’s work, her university course called Search Engines: Technology, Society and Business is a available as a podcast and includes guest lecturers such as Hal Varian and Daniel Russell from Google, Marc Najork from Microsoft Research, and Jason Schultz from the EFF.


© 2009 Enquiro Search Solutions.