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Viewing Searches Without Results

With MadCap Feedback, you can determine how readers are using search in your online output. This helps you answer questions such as: What are they looking for? What are they finding? And more importantly, what are they unable to find? You can use Feedback Explorer to view all used search phrases, as well as searches where no results were returned to the user.

How to view searches without results

1. Open the Feedback file.

2. Select View>Search Phrases with no results.

   The Searches with no results window pane opens.

   A chart is displayed in the window pane, with the data shown below in a grid.

   You can see statistics on the search phrases for which users did not find results, including the number of searches performed for each term.

   If you double-click on a row in the window pane, a properties dialog opens, showing the search query and the number of times it has been searched.

3. (Optional) You can use the date filter to select a specific date range so that statistics are shown only for that time frame. If you want to specify a date range, use the following steps.
   1. In the local toolbar, click .
   2. In the Date Filter dialog, click Enable filter.
   3. Select either Range or Preset.
   4. Click in the appropriate fields to select a timeframe. If you use the "Range" option, you can click on the down arrows to choose specific months and dates. You can also click inside the field and type a different time.
   5. Click OK.

4. (Optional) You can limit the columns of information to be included in the grid and chart. To do this, complete the following steps.

   1. In the local toolbar, click . The Options dialog opens.
   2. Click Show for each piece of data you want be displayed in the grid.
   3. Click OK.

5. (Optional) You can change the type of chart shown. To do this, click the chart type filter field in the local toolbar and make a selection. Initially this field displays the type of chart currently used (e.g., "Bar" or "Pie"), but the label changes with each selection you make.

6. (Optional) You can limit the number of rows shown in the chart. To do this, click the filter field in the local toolbar and make a selection. Initially this field displays the word "All," but the label changes with each selection you make.

   Following are the options you can choose:

   • Selected Rows Only the selected rows of data are included in the chart. If you want to use this option, you can select multiple rows in the grid by holding down the SHIFT or CTRL key and clicking a range of rows or individual rows.
   • Top 10 Only the first 10 rows of data are included in the chart.
   • Top 25 Only the first 25 rows of data are included in the chart.
   • Top 50 Only the first 50 rows of data are included in the chart.
   • Custom Only the first number of rows that you specify are included in the chart. When you select this option, the Custom Data Filter dialog opens. Enter the number of rows to be shown and click OK.

Note: You can also reset the search phrase counts, which might be useful when you are testing search results. See Resetting Search Phrase Counts.

Note: You may need to refresh the window pane to make sure you see the latest results. To do this, simply press F5 on your keyboard or click in the local toolbar.

Note: This feature is not available for HTML Help output.

WHAT'S NEXT?

If users enter search phrases in your online output and those phrases are not returning results, this does not need to be the end of the story. You can make improvements to your output so that, in the future, users are able to find the search results they need. One way to make an enhancement is to add the information that your users are looking for (if that information does not yet exist in your Flare project). Another way to enhance your output is to create synonyms for search phrases. See Creating Synonyms to Enhance Search Results.

See Also

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