Optimizing search by showing results in context

Susan Dumais, Edward Cutrell, and Hao Chen

We developed and evaluated seven interfaces for integrating semantic
category information with Web search results. List interfaces were
based on the familiar ranked-listing of search results, sometimes
augmented with a category name for each result. Category interfaces
also showed page titles and/or category names, but re-organized the
search results so that items in the same category were grouped
together visually. Our user studies show that all Category interfaces
were more effective than List interfaces even when lists were
augmented with category names for each result. The best category
performance was obtained when both category names and individual page
titles were presented. Either alone is better than a list
presentation, but both together provide the most effective means for
allowing users to quickly examining search results. These results
provide a better understanding of the perceptual and cognitive factors
underlying the advantage of category groupings and provide some
practical guidance to Web search interface designers.