This is part three of our “Why intranets fail” series. Read parts one and two.
In most companies, the intranet is meant to be the go-to hub for employees to find critical information and stay connected. But even the most beautifully designed intranet can fall short if its search functionality doesn’t deliver accurate, relevant results. When employees struggle to find what they need, productivity plummets and frustration rises.
Your intranet’s search capability is the backbone of employee productivity. Without it, the intranet risks becoming a digital black hole where critical information is lost, and employees disengage.
Simpplr recently surveyed 1,000 senior intranet managers about what makes their intranets tick — or tank. More than 80% said their intranets lack consumer-grade search. Only 19% of respondents reported having an accurate search that employs AI for personalized, precise results. Likewise, 9% stated that their intranet’s search functionality does not cover all employee content and knowledge sources, forcing employees to look elsewhere for information.
This gap not only frustrates employees but also impairs their ability to perform at their best. Implementing intranet search best practices is key to ensuring a smooth and efficient digital employee experience (EX).
- 1 Enable unified search across multiple systems
- 2 Prioritize metadata and content management
- 3 Ensure contextual and intuitive search
- 4 Provide contextual help and search tips
- 5 Personalize search results
- 6 Create a user-friendly interface
- 7 Optimize for mobile search
- 8 Support multilingual search capabilities
- 9 Regularly update and optimize the search algorithm
- 10 Continuously gather feedback from employees
- 11 AI-powered intranet search improves EX
We’ll dive into best practices for creating an intranet search experience that keeps employees productive and engaged, but first, let’s cover some intranet search basics.
What is intranet search functionality?
Intranet search refers to the functionality within an organization’s intranet that allows employees to quickly locate relevant information, documents and resources. Unlike public search engines, intranet search is designed to navigate internal content, including company policies, project files, HR documents and communications.
Effective intranet search tools often include features such as filters, metadata tagging and AI-powered advanced search capabilities — enabling employees to find specific information quickly and efficiently.
A well-optimized intranet search can significantly boost productivity by reducing time spent searching for critical content, ultimately improving the overall employee experience.
Poor intranet search makes finding information a full-time job
Imagine walking into a library where books are randomly scattered, with no discernible system for organization. Now, picture trying to find a specific piece of information in that chaos. This scenario closely mirrors the experience many employees face when using poorly designed intranet search functions.
In enterprises with complex intranets and diverse content needs across multiple departments, the search functionality often falls short of user expectations.
Employees — accustomed to the seamless search experiences provided by consumer technologies — find themselves lost in a maze of irrelevant results, outdated information and dead ends. The frustration of hunting for information not only lowers productivity but also damages morale.
Key effects of a poor intranet search experience
- Decreased productivity: Employees spend valuable time sifting through irrelevant or outdated information.
- Low engagement: A poor user experience discourages employees from using the intranet regularly, impacting overall employee engagement.
- Knowledge silos: When employees can’t find the information they need, they often resort to storing it elsewhere, creating fragmented knowledge that is hard to access later.
Organizations must prioritize advanced search capabilities for intranets to create a more effective intranet. Let’s review 10 intranet search best practices that can transform your digital workplace into a powerful, user-friendly resource.
10 best practices for a superior intranet search experience
“The current search often retrieves outdated or irrelevant results. An improved search could prioritize recent and relevant content, offering better suggestions based on context and past searches for efficiency.”
~ Respondent to Simpplr’s 2024 State of the Intranet and Future of Employee Technology survey
In the rush to roll out a new platform, advanced search capabilities for intranets get less attention than they should. Many traditional intranet platforms rely on outdated search technologies that simply don’t meet modern needs.
Equipping your intranet with advanced search capabilities is crucial for improving user efficiency and satisfaction.
Powerful search functions enable employees to quickly locate necessary information, streamlining workflows and reducing frustration. By leveraging advanced filtering options and intuitive interfaces, organizations can ensure vital resources are accessible, enhancing productivity and engagement.
To create a seamless intranet experience, follow these intranet search best practices:
Enable unified search across multiple systems
In many organizations, information is often spread across multiple systems and platforms. Federated search allows users to search across all these sources simultaneously from a single interface, providing a more comprehensive view of available information.
Integrate federated search capabilities that can query multiple integrated data sources beyond your intranet, including:
- Document management systems (e.g., Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, SharePoint, Dropbox)
- Collaboration platforms (e.g., Slack, Microsoft Teams, Google Workspace)
- External knowledge bases (e.g., Zendesk, Confluence, ServiceNow)
- HR systems (e.g., ADP, SAP, Workday, BambooHR)
Prioritize metadata and content management
The quality of search results is directly tied to the quality of the content and its associated metadata. Without proper tagging and organization, even the most advanced search algorithms will struggle to deliver relevant results.
Develop a comprehensive metadata strategy and content management process, including:
- Standardized tagging conventions
- Regular content audits and updates
- Automated metadata extraction where possible
- Training for content creators on metadata best practices
Organizations managing extensive intranet content can leverage AI to streamline information management. AI-powered search enhances the ability to quickly locate specific communications, policies or HR procedures, even within a vast sea of information.
By automating metadata tagging, AI eliminates the manual effort of categorizing content, ensuring that resources are consistently and accurately tagged.
This makes information more discoverable and improves overall search relevance, allowing employees to access the right information faster and more efficiently.
Learn more: Essential intranet content: 10 must-have employee intranet content types + ideas & examples
Ensure contextual and intuitive search
Traditional search engines rely on basic keyword matching, which often leads to irrelevant or incomplete results. Advanced intranet search tools interpret user intent and provide contextually relevant information that addresses the user’s needs, even if their search terms are vague or incomplete.
AI-powered intranet search not only interprets keywords but also understands the meaning behind a question.
For example, if an employee searches for “vacation policy,” the search should pull up the policy document, relevant forms and even the contact person for further questions.
Provide contextual help and search tips
Employees need help finding the right information quickly. Many users don’t fully utilize search capabilities simply because they’re unaware of advanced features or best practices for constructing effective queries.
Incorporate contextual help and search tips directly into the search interface, including:
- Suggested search operators (e.g., AND, OR, NOT)
- Examples of effective queries for different types of information
- Quick access to advanced search options
AI-powered search provides real-time, context-aware suggestions as users type. These suggestions can dramatically improve the search experience by anticipating user needs and offering relevant options.
Personalize search results
Generic search results are inefficient and lead to frustration because not all information is equally relevant to every employee. Use an AI-powered intranet solution to personalize search results based on an employee’s role, department, location and past behavior, which can significantly improve the search experience.
Implement a personalized search algorithm that takes into account:
- User profile information
- Search history
- Content engagement patterns
- Role-based access permissions
For example, a marketing manager should see marketing templates and reports prioritized in their search results, while an HR professional will have easy access to employee records and policy documents.
Related: How to use AI to personalize and target internal communications
Create a user-friendly interface
The user interface (UI) is critical in delivering a smooth search experience. If the interface is clunky or unintuitive, employees will struggle to use the search function effectively.
Employees are used to consumer-grade search interfaces, like those of Google, and expect a similar experience in the workplace.
Design a user-friendly search interface with easy access to the search bar, clear display of results, and minimal clicks required to find key documents. The less friction, the more employees will engage with the platform and the more time they will save.
Optimize for mobile search
With more employees working remotely or in the field, intranet search must work just as efficiently on mobile devices as it does on desktops. A mobile-optimized search ensures that employees can access critical information wherever they are. Make sure your intranet search is mobile-friendly, with a responsive design and intuitive navigation for smaller screens. This is particularly important for frontline workers or employees frequently on the go. Consider implementing voice search capabilities for hands-free operation in certain work environments.
Learn more: 17 intranet best practices to raise employee engagement
Support multilingual search capabilities
In global organizations, employees may search for information in different languages. An intranet search that fails to support multilingual queries can leave key team members unable to access the information they need.
Be sure to implement multilingual search functionality to cater to global teams. This feature ensures employees across different regions can find information in their preferred language.
Regularly update and optimize the search algorithm
Search functionality should continuously evolve based on user behavior and feedback. As employees add new documents or systems, your search algorithm must be regularly updated with new keywords, terms or phrases to ensure relevance and accuracy. Implementing robust analytics can provide valuable insights for ongoing optimization.
Set up comprehensive search analytics that track:
- Most common search terms
- Failed searches
- Click-through rates on search results
- User feedback on search effectiveness
Use this data to regularly refine search algorithms, update content, and identify areas for improvement.
Continuously gather feedback from employees
No one understands the limitations of your intranet search better than the people who use it every day.
Employees need an easy way to provide feedback on their search experience so you can make continuous improvements.
Even the best search functionality won’t be effective if employees don’t trust or use it. Encourage employee feedback through surveys or built-in feedback tools within the search function. Use this data to address pain points and enhance the search experience over time.
AI-powered intranet search improves EX
In the digital workplace, the ability to quickly find relevant information is critical to organizational efficiency and employee satisfaction. AI-powered search is the answer to the challenges posed by traditional intranet search. By delivering faster, more relevant results, AI can transform how employees interact with the intranet, ensuring a more productive and satisfying experience.
Additionally, generative AI takes search capabilities even further by providing intelligent, context-aware responses and generating summaries or suggestions based on the content. Simpplr leverages Gen AI, or Smart Answer, to enable employees to find information and receive actionable insights, enhancing decision-making and reducing time spent sifting through data.
If your intranet search isn’t delivering the results employees need, it’s time to rethink your approach.
Effective intranet search is not just a convenience — it’s essential for productivity and employee engagement. Sophisticated search capabilities like those enabled by AI are now must-haves for a high-functioning digital workplace.
By following these 10 intranet search best practices, you can create a user-friendly, intuitive search experience that boosts productivity, improves morale, and helps employees everywhere access the critical information they need.
How Simpplr can help
Simpplr’s industry-leading employee experience platform addresses the common search challenges of traditional intranets by providing AI-powered enterprise search that provides instant answers for every employee.
Our unified, AI-enhanced search experience unlocks productivity by enabling employees to access all your data across diverse systems. And with the latest in semantic and neural search technologies enhanced with Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG), they’ll get the most precise and personalized search results possible.
Request a demo today to learn more!
