Five ways to make SharePoint search more efficient

Admins and end users alike find that using the search feature in SharePoint is helpful, but it can be frustrating. Thankfully, there are a few ways to make SharePoint search work smoothly within an enterprise.

We compiled the five best tips to help SharePoint users work through common questions and situations with SharePoint search. Covering multiple versions of SharePoint, these tips highlight how to make searching in SharePoint more efficient, how to improve search functionality and more.

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These SharePoint 2007 search features are the best kept secrets

Two of SharePoint 2007's search features are considered to be great hidden finds. In addition to using SharePoint search as a research source, users can take advantage of search analytics to  look at the details of content searches, including the results produced from specific queries.

Three ways to get the most out of SharePoint 2007 search

There are three ways to use SharePoint 2007 search: for locating documents, for researching information from multiple sources and for analyzing details of the searches users are making.

How a governance plan can boost SharePoint search

Creating a governance plan is one of the best things you can do to make SharePoint enterprise searches more efficient. Governance plans should include training, keywords, scopes, content sources and third-party tools to be used in searches. Committee members may vary but should include end users, business analysts, admins and developers.

Using scopes in custom searches can ease SharePoint searches

As more searches are done in SharePoint, the more complex of a task searching becomes. By using scopes to create custom searches, much of the complexity is taken away. Starting in SharePoint 2010, scopes are an easy option to create and use, but end users should be careful of using too many scopes since a scope surplus will bring back complicated searches.

New mode improves search functionality in SharePoint 2013

The search functionality in SharePoint 2013 is one reason to consider a SharePoint upgrade. A major advantage of the search is that Microsoft implemented a "continuous crawl" mode to overcome problems with content publishing and search-powered navigation. No new content or navigation is excluded between scheduled crawls.