Narrow search results by category, emphasize products

What does a shopper see when she searches your site by keyword? Products are what you want to emphasize, of course. But narrowing the search by product category can be even more useful to your shopper. A category page can be the best way to direct your shopper along her path to purchase.

Now the search results page template places the top 10 product category matches (out of the top 100 results) into the topmost area of the page, under the heading: "Narrow your search for "[keywords]" by browsing categories that match:

Products displaying photo, name, and price follow beneath the category section of the page. In the prior version of this template, the results displayed on any given page were limited to 15, and then later to 25. Now there's up to 100 search results on the page, with potentially all 100 being products -- depending on the keyword search of course.

We've recently updated our thinking about the desirability of scrolling, and how to balance between scrolling down the page, and clicking through to a next or previous page. Tim Ash of SiteTuners.com has persuaded us that shoppers can more easily isolate the one product they are seeking when viewing many products on a page, and scrolling up and down. Compare this with clicking through to 3, 4, or 5 pages of search results, where there may be one or two products on each page that catches the shoppers eye. When more products are all on the same page, the shopper can perform a quicker visual scan, and either enter a new keyword to start a better search, or open product links in new tabs within the browser.

Here's an example of a search that shows the newly updated sections of the search results template:  categories, products, site search (articles, FAQ's, misc pages), and a new 'still looking?' section.

Thanks to Tim and the feedback of our clients on this topic. We'll be monitoring the "sales index" of this new page template within Google Analytics to check actual performance...