Watch searches that find nothing or get no click

How to do it

A search with no hits shows a missing synonym, a spelling the analyser misses or a product you do not stock. A search with hits but no click shows results in the wrong order. Log the hit count and the clicked position with each cleaned query, as Keep personal data out of search logs says. Fix each common case with an alias, a language rule or new content, and add it to the fixed query set so it stays fixed. Words people use for an item go in its aliases, as Give every item the words people use for it says.

Examples

SQL example

SELECT query,
       count(*) AS searches,
       avg((hits = 0)::int) AS no_hit_share,
       avg((hits > 0 AND clicked_position IS NULL)::int) AS no_click_share
FROM search_log
WHERE at > now() - interval '7 days'
GROUP BY query
ORDER BY searches DESC
LIMIT 20;

Python example

def weekly_shares(rows: list[dict]) -> dict:
    total = len(rows) or 1
    return {
        "no_hit": sum(row["hits"] == 0 for row in rows) / total,
        "no_click": sum(row["hits"] > 0 and row["clicked_position"] is None for row in rows) / total,
    }

JavaScript example

export function weeklyShares(rows) {
  const total = rows.length || 1;
  return {
    noHit: rows.filter(row => row.hits === 0).length / total,
    noClick: rows.filter(row => row.hits > 0 && row.clickedPosition == null).length / total,
  };
}

How to check

The dashboard shows the weekly no-hit and no-click shares for the last 12 weeks, and the two top-20 lists. Each monthly review leaves a dated note with the changes made.

Related rules

• SRH-12 Keep personal data out of search logs in Search
• SRH-17 Test search results with a fixed query set in Search
• SRH-16 Give every item the words people use for it in Search