Shoppers at Bresee's site, Backcountry, can browse among page after page of outdoor gear. The site sells gear by the likes of North Face and Patagonia, and its selection ranges from snowboard boots to tents to backpacks.

The effectiveness of a search tool, in Bresee's experience, is related to the shopper who's using it. For a sophisticated buyer who knows exactly what they want, a basic directory-style search can be sufficient. But for many shoppers, finding just the right product can be "bewildering" without a powerful search tool, he says.

To maximize his site's search capability, Backcountry uses Atomz, an externally hosted search tool. After initially choosing the solution, "they got it live in a week," Bresee says. Over the past couple years, Backcountry has used three version of Atomz. "Each time we were seeking more functionality, and this latest version is by far the best."

Tweaking the Engine
Backcountry's merchandise analyst looks at a list of search keywords commonly used by the site's shoppers, to see if any have produced low results. These low-producing terms are then entered into the Atomz software as synonyms linked to the correct terms in Backcountry's inventory.

This synonym creation process is key. It means that shoppers can enter a broad range of vague keywords and even misspellings and still see a list that's likely to contain what they want.

If he notices customers searching for ArcTeryz's Sidewinder, but entering the product name as two words -- "side winder" -- Bresee can help those shoppers simply by entering Atomz's administrative tool and typing in "Side winder, two words = sidewinder, one word."

"There are a million different ways," to modify how Atomz produces results, Bresee says. For example, he can place a different value on each field in a multi-field search box. "You can say 'words in the title' are most important, or 'words in the description,' are most important," he says. It's a question of "tweak it, tweak it, tweak it," until you get it right, he says.

Paired with Analytics
Atomz is fully integrated into WebSideStory's HBX Web analytics software. As a result, "I can view all the reports of my search in with the rest of my analytics -- it's really nice to have it all in one place," Bresee says. He can view the top search words day by day, and create keywords to enter into Atomz as his shoppers display their preferences.

"Then I can export this information to one of our cost-per-click guys, who will take it and make sure we own those terms," he adds. This strategy helps boost the company's external marketing efforts.

Atomz also enables an e-tailer to present special promotions with on-site search results that relate to a shopper's search word.

The setup has paid off handsomely for Backcountry. Bresee points to the Atomz software as "the best ROI of anything outside of our platform," he says. "We have seen continual increase in conversion."

Moreover, the software has been essentially problem-free, Bresee says. He has developed a relationship with employees at many of the software vendors Backcountry uses -- because he's had to call to report problems.

But not so with Atomz: "We didn't develop a strong relationship because everything ran so well," he says.

James Maguire is a contributor to ECommerce-Guide.com. His column appears every Friday.

Do you have a comment or question about this article or other e-commerce topics in general? Speak out in the SmallBusinessComputing.com E-Commerce Forum. Join the discussion today!