Google’s search page features a button labeled “I’m Feeling Lucky.” Currently, when you used the Google search tool on The University of Montana website, you might be lucky to find what you’re looking for.
For example, if you search for “bookstore,” from the current UM homepage, the results don’t include the bookstore located in the University Center. That’s because Google’s campus search only looks at the UMT domain, and the bookstore’s site is an external dot-com site.
Another common problem is that highly relevant UM pages are often buried on page two of the search results.
Those problems go away with the next UM homepage.
The new site has incorporated a locally-managed Google Mini Search Appliance, which will enhance search results. But the real improvement comes from additional modifications by the UM web team. Searches on the UM site now look for UM links stored in the local A-Z index database and display those links as featured links at the top of the results page.
With the new tool, when you search for “bookstore,” you get featured links at the top, followed by results from the Google Mini appliance:
Maybe now we can have our own “I’m Feeling Lucky” button.
TIP
If you have University web content that your audience has a hard time finding, consider suggesting a link to be included in the UM A-Z index database. That will also make it a featured link on relevant UM searches.
A “Suggest a link” for is located on the right side of every A-Z index page.
