Improve your intranet search by managing content

Hands up if you’ve searched the company intranet only to get stuck in a game of cat and mouse.

Intranets are the nerve centre of an organisation (if you need a refresher on modern SharePoint intranets, read this). They are the digital homebase to thousands of files, policies, contact lists, announcements, news announcements, leave forms (and many more!), crucial to your company’s operations. Add in a geographically dispersed workforce, and the humble intranet becomes a fundamental tool connecting employees and enabling them to do their jobs.

When it comes to transforming your intranet, search functionality is one of the most important services you need to get right. It is a powerful tool that navigates large amounts of data to surface the most valuable information in seconds.

The sheer amount of data that lives on your intranet means that the search system needs to retrieve information fast and serve the most relevant results.

For many of our clients moving their intranet onto SharePoint Online, the plea for better search functionality is usually one of the top requested services. And it’s easy to understand why. The effectiveness of an intranet largely hinges on the quality of its search functionality and metadata management – without it, your employees will struggle to find the information they need.

There are two areas to explore when looking at how to optimise the search functionality on your intranet:

• The features and functionalities of the technology solution.

• Ensuring high-quality and relevant content (including metadata).

Powerful search capabilities are the foundation for a high-performing intranet platform. You need to look for a global internal search solution, which can surface information from both the intranet database but also third-party tools like your collaboration suite.

Intranet search plays a big role in the user experience. Nowadays, people are used to typing a keyword and finding information quickly, so you want them to have a similar experience within the digital workplace. In order to provide a powerful search that can surface pertinent information, you need to take a step back and think about your metadata. Providing relevant categories and tags that will allow creators to sort and class content from the very beginning will make search results more relevant.

Think of your page name as a giant neon sign pointing to what’s inside. It needs to be clear and packed with juicy, relevant keywords. If the page title is vague, you might be scrolling through results forever. Keywords are your best friends here - more specific, relevant keywords mean less time searching and more time finding.

Page naming quick tips:

• Ask yourself, 'Why will people want to come to this page?

• Consider what problem does this content solve?

• Use clear, specific keywords in the title and throughout the content.

Along with this, a well-structured page is a findable page. Break your content into manageable sections with clear headings and subheadings. This makes it easier for users to scan and find what they need, plus it helps search engines understand the content better.

Metadata is the behind-the-scenes info that makes your content easier to find. The more metadata you attach to a piece of content, the more likely your search engine will bring up that content when someone’s looking for it.

Quick tips for effective metadata:

• Use detailed, descriptive tags that accurately represent the content.

• Think about different ways people might search for the same information. Adding synonym tags can cover all bases.

• Make sure everyone on your team follows the same tagging and categorising system to keep things organised.

The more relevant and contextual keywords you add, the more functional and findable your content becomes. It's not just about adding tags; it's about adding the right tags.

No one has the patience for slow search results. A sluggish search can lead to frustration, decreased productivity, and a dip in intranet usage – all things we definitely want to avoid.

Regular maintenance is key to ensuring your intranet can handle large volumes of data without compromising on speed. Conduct regular audits of your intranet’s content to identify and remove outdated or redundant information (this can clog up the system and slow down search results). Delete old files, archive outdated documents, and ensure that all current content is relevant and up-to-date.

Is your intranet is optimised to handle large volumes of data efficiently? This might involve upgrading your servers, improving your database management, or tweaking your search algorithms to be more efficient.