Pre-searching is a behavior pattern I’ve noticed as people key in potential search terms to a search box that gives suggestions.
Foraging behavior begins before the search results page, since users can check their idea of what they want to find based on what’s suggested by the engine. Much like the “QuickLook” design pattern eliminates the pogo-effect on retail sites, the suggested keyword can eliminate a pogo-effect from search results page (SRP) to a new entry.
This reminds me of the earliest ‘suggested search keywords’ I remember, which were on the SRP – either at the top or bottom of the SRP – and suggested related keywords, especially more detailed variants or subtopics.
Variations on where and how pre-searching happens
Google’s Chrome address bar is the most familiar “suggested keywords” to me. Of course, Google added this to their www.google.com search box a few years ago, if my memory serves correctly. I recall Firefox having a robust URL suggestion in version 3. Around that time, I was in frequent working sessions with a projector. I watched with amusement as people would use that suggestion as a pre-processor, if you will, for where they wanted to go or what they wanted to find.
Prospective suggestions would serve up keywords not in your history. Retrospective suggestions would serve up keywords, URLs, etc., in your history.
Some sites provied “popular terms”, which serve a similar function as suggestions, but they’re ‘canned’. It seems that most ‘popular’ keyword collections are: (a) not dynamic; (b) stuffed with marketing-oriented keywords; (c) extremely limited.
Am I coining “pre-searching”? Or, is it already documented?
Perhaps someone’s already coined this or another term for the same behavior pattern. I take the step – as my science education compels me – to formalize the idea for future reference. After all, having this in hand might help me convince a client that suggested keywords are worth the effort.
If you know of a reference to behavioral pattern matching this one, please comment so I can keep up with it. And, perhaps update this post.