on Rosenfeld Media’s page on Rosenfeld’s upcoming book, Search Analytics

I’ve heard the term search analytics bandied about in libraries, but hadn’t yet heard of a sustained project to record and analyze search terms in order to better define the organization of library resources; needless to say, I’m interested in exploring Rosenfeld’s idea–and book–further, at least judging by the first chapter, (http://rosenfeldmedia.com/books/searchanalytics/content/sample_chapter/).  The idea of a continuing review process is especially appealing as a method any group can use to continually evaluate and update the organization and delivery of their web content. Though I can see potential dangers if (when) search engines load the dice for certain search terms — delivering a retailer’s site as the first result for a search for ‘men’s clothing’, for instance — I can definitely see the positive applicability of the ‘best bets’ Rosenfeld talks of as a way for some groups (like a university, just as in his example) to better serve their users with search analytics. I would be interested to see this applied to a library’s OPAC, too, (or some similar mechanism, for when subject headings and all manner of keyword searching fail the user).