As part of this project, my partner and I tested the rigor of the search engine used by Wired.com which gave us a greater understanding of how search engines should operate.

1. Search Engine Analysis
www.wired.com
Wyatt Haversack & Vivian Ng

2. Overview
About WIRED
● Introduction
● Search platform
● Search needs
Search Analysis
● Stemming
● Misspelling
● Query suggestions
● Best bets
● Precision vs Recall
● Partial matches
● Display of results
● How well the results page
supports action
● Filters
● Search zones
● How no results are handled
● Support of mobile search
Conclusion
● Successes
● Failures
● Suggestions
● References

3. About WIRED
01

4. Introduction
“Wired (stylized as WIRED) is
a monthly American
magazine published in print
and online editions, that
focuses on how emerging
technologies affect culture,
the economy, and politics.”¹
ٰ¹Wired (magazine) Wikipedia

5. Search Platform
Wired.com uses an integrated search
process that crawls the website for
keywords and relevance.
● Does not have an option for
advanced search but does allow for
manual boolean searches.
● Sorts by relevance by default

6. Users
Tech Enthusiasts
reading about
latest trends
Professionals
researching
new practices
Curious
Learners
beginning their
journey into a
new space
Students
researching
topics for their
classes

7. Search Needs
Should cater to a wide demographic of users:
● Teachers finding articles for their classes
● Tech amateurs trying to learn more about how to interact with technology
● Designers finding inspiration for a project
● Anyone interested in technology trends
Search needs to be accessible:
● Users need to be able to use the service regardless of condition
● Users need to be able to find the service easily

8. Search Analysis
02

9. Stemming
Searching for crypto,
cryptocurrency and crypto-
currency all generated different
results.
By using variations of the same
words, despite sharing
similarities, they can lead users
down paths they’re not looking
for and cause delays with finding
information they are actually
seeking.

10. Misspelling
Search results for misspelled
words blockchian (correct:
blockchain) and photografy
(correct: photography) generated
no results.
The search engine does not allow
users to search for stories with
the incorrect spelling and does
not offer alternative query
suggestions.

11. Query Suggestions
The search engine does not provide auto
suggestions as a user enters their query. At
no point while typing supply chain and
other queries did it trigger any auto
suggestions.
Query suggestions on Wired.com are a bit
misleading as they include placeholder
text/a hint in the search engine that says
Try “Racial justice” at all times when
users enter a search query, which can lead
them into thinking that the search engine
does offer auto suggestions when it does
not.

12. Best Bets
Wired.com does not have best bets;
they do, however, allow you to filter
by relevance. When searching for
Facebook 10,000 results show up.
The #1 result is a post from
February 8th, 2022.
When searching for Steve Jobs and
Steve Jobs Apple they yielded
10,000 stories. The results varied in
topic relevance.

13. Precision vs Recall
Wired.com favors recall over precision
● While the yield was high (often
thousands of results) it would be
challenging to find a specific
article unless you knew the author
name, date, etc.
● When searching for Mechanical
Keyboards the search yielded
5,816 results. Two out of the first
ten posts were relevant to my
search.

14. Partial Matches
Wired.com does not provide
results for a partial match
even when the majority of the
word is included in the query.

15. Display of Results
Each article has the following:
● A thumbnail
● The date of publication
● The author’s name
● A snippet of the article
The page displays:
● The number of results
● A list of most popular articles
● The search bar
● Sorting options
● More stories button

16. How Well the Results Page Supports Action
The results page only allows
users to filter results with
limited facets (newest or
relevance).
Instead of related searches
that are usually generated,
depending on the search
terms, Wired.com provides a
list of Most Popular articles.

17. Search Zones
Wired.com does not have any
search zones for its users.
If users are curious or want to
dive deeper into a search, they
do not have the ability to do so.
They would have to rely on the
navigation menu, the limited
facets, most popular stories, or
enter a completely new search
query.

18. Filters
Wired.com severely lacks filters.
When users enter search queries
into the search engine they are
met with a results page that only
allows them to sort results by
Newest or Relevance.

19. How No Results Are Handled
When no results are found
Wired.com displays “0 stories
about (search query)”.
The website gives you the option
to search again.

20. Support for Mobile Search
Mobile search is friendly,
extremely similar to desktop
search.
Tool could be easier to find,
requires user to open the
hamburger menu.

21. Conclusion
03

22. Successes
Easy to find and use
● The search engine uses a
familiar magnifying glass icon
● The search button is contrasted
● Search examples are given
● Ability to sort by relevance and
newest
Strong display of results page

23. Failures
● No best bets provided
● No search predictions
● No advanced search option
● Very limited filters/lack of filters
● No support for partial
matches/misspelling
● No direction when no results are found

24. Suggestions
● Update stemming to include options for more accurate search
results
● Offer related searches/suggestions when search queries are
misspelled
● Give users more options (related content) when no results are found
● Add predictive search (autosuggest) options
● Add filters to sort by category / author / year
● Add search zones for their users

25. References
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wired_(magazine)
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26. Thank you!
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