1. Real World Challenges
in SharePoint 2013
Search
AG N ES MO L N AR
IN D EPEN D EN T C O N SU LTANT, EC M & SEAR C H EXPERT
AG H Y@ AGHY.HU

2. Introduction – Agnes Molnar
International SharePoint Consultant
• 10+ Years SharePoint Experience
• Information Architecture & ECM
• Search
SharePoint Server MVP
• 6 Years SharePoint Server MVP
• Speaking at Conferences around the world
• Books, White Papers, Articles
Contact
• E-mail: aghy@aghy.hu
• Blog: http://aghy.hu
• Twitter: @molnaragnes

3. Search Experience in SharePoint
2013

4. Understanding the Search Flow
Result Type
Result Block
Data Source
Content
Source
Result Type
Result Block
Data Source
Query Rule
Data Source
Query Rule
Result Set
Content
Source
metadata
Data Source
Query Rule
Content
Source
Local Search Index
Indexing
Federation
Remote Search index
Refinement
Panel
Result
Source
Result
Source
Hover Panel
Display
Templates

5. Content Inventory
SharePoint content (2013, 2010, …)
◦
◦
◦
◦
Intranet
Department sites
Project sites
Internal KB
File shares
◦ Sales repository (RFPs, proposals, etc.)
◦ Marketing documents (DMs, brochures, etc.)
Web sites
◦ Company public web site
◦ Professional Know-How Web Sites
(finance, IT, development, etc.)
◦ Common interest
(stock, management, etc.)
Exchange Public Folders
◦ Internal communication
Business Data
◦ Direct Database access
◦ Web Service
Custom connector
◦ SAP data
◦ CRM data

6. Types of Crawling
Full Crawl
Incremental Crawl
Continuous Crawl

7. Search Federation

8. Crawl or Federate? –
Where to get the content from?
Crawl + Use Local Index:
◦ Pros:
◦ Full control over the index (crawl schedule, metadata included, etc.) and ranking model
◦ Results can be aggregated into one result set
◦ Common refiners (facets)
◦ Cons:
◦ Needs resources for the crawling process
◦ Needs storage to store the index
Federate:
◦ Pros:
◦ Doesn’t need resources to crawl / store the index
◦ Cons:
◦
◦
◦
◦
Live Internet connection is required
No control over the index
No control over the ranking model
No real aggregation with other result sources

9. Sorting the Results – Relevance
Ranking
“I’d like to see ALL the relevant results.”
vs.
“I don’t want to see anything that is not relevant
(to me, in this context).”

10. Sorting the Results
Custom Ranking Model
◦
◦
◦
◦
◦
In complex scenarios
When a new property has to be added to the model
When more properties have to be included with weights
On premises only
Global
Query Rules
◦ Sort by one or more Managed Property
OR
Apply a Ranking Model
◦ On premises and in O365
◦ Available on different levels

11. Metadata in Search
Crawled property:
metadata extracted from the documents/items during the crawl.
Managed property:
mapped to crawled properties, controlled by Search Admins, helping users
perform more efficient and successful queries:
◦ Refiners
◦ Displayed in Search Results
◦ Sorting Properties

12. Metadata in Search
Crawled Property
Managed Property
Usage
Refiner
Author
Display on
Result Set
CreatedBy
Author
Display on
Hover Panel
From
Sorting by

13. Metadata –
Entity Extraction in SharePoint 2013
How to get metadata if there’s no metadata?
Entity Extraction
•
The process of tagging a document based on its content,
by extracting its content and looking for matches in a dictionary
Challenges/Limitations:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Dictionary based word matching (Key, Display Form)
Word extraction versus “real” entity extraction
No entity types
No entity hierarchy
No integration with Managed Metadata Term Store
Still hard to maintain

14. Using Managed Properties
In Query
Rules
Refinement
Result Type &
Display Template
15
On Hover
Panel
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15. Using Managed Properties
Crawled Properties are created during crawl
Managed Properties are filled in with values during crawl
Planning Metadata is critical!
Don’t create more Managed Properties than you need (or will need)
Create/change all Managed Properties that you need (or will need) in a bunch
Crawled Property inventory
◦ What we get from the source system?
Managed Property inventory
◦ What we have in the index?
◦ What else we need?
◦ Missing mappings

16. Search Analytics
“How to Improve the Search Experience?”

17. Search Analytics in SharePoint 2013

18. Search Analytics – Examples

19. Search Analytics – Examples

20. Governance
Governing Search is essential
No real support on the Admin UI
Use Scripting
Define responsibilities
Define the process of taking actions
Involve the end users

21. Want to Learn More?
Blog: http://aghy.hu
Twitter: @MolnarAgnes
The Essential Guide to Enterprise Search in SharePoint 2013 (free e-book)
http://www.bainsight.com/pages/sharepoint-search-2013.aspx
Search Circle (subscription service for Search Managers)
http://www.intranetfocus.com/enterprise-search/thesearchcircle
SharePoint Videos – online trainings: http://www.SharePoint-Videos.com
White Papers, online webinars and trainings for IA and Search Managers
http://earley.com/Training-Webinars

22. Questions
H T T P://AG HY.H U
AG H Y@ AGHY.HU
@ MOL NAR AGNES