Search in SharePoint 2013 Improvements

The developments for the search implemented in SharePoint 2013 provide a platform for the end users which is flatter, cleaner and a more responsive interface. When we are referring to the flatness, we are talking about the transition from one view to another (SharePoint Views, Search Views, and Detail Views) that exists is becoming invisible. To accredit the responsiveness, we reference the new architecture and the extensive use of HTML, JavaScript, and AJAX style interactions.

As we have become acquainted with in Google search, SharePoint search in 2013 allows document previews that are able to rendered on the page which alleviates the transition between documents.

 New developments of the SharePoint search eliminates the difference which existed between context and site searches and provides a fluid framework unique to 2013.

One of the perks of using SharePoint search is the ability to contribute to the productivity of the users in the system. When we consider how much we rely on search engines such as Google or Yahoo, it would seem pretty obvious that this would be the case.

New features which are new to 2013 also improve the abilities to SharePoint search. In an ideal system with the use of "My Sites" and forums, there may be information relevant to the task which you are working on. Included in this is the ability of SharePoint to make suggestions based on your previous searches.

An interesting addition has been that of the "Take a look inside" features which captures information from documents and even PowerPoint presentations according to titles and labels which they have used in their creation. This includes excel documents.

Though SharePoint search has some great features, some features are still excluded, such as the effect which highlights key searched terms, copy and pasting from the preview, and the ability to jump to the most relevant page of the document.

One of the significant failures of SharePoint search server has been that of the breadth of content types as the search is limited to only a limited set of file formats, which does not include PDF's. Regardless of this shortfall, the hover panel works well to ease the use of the search service by providing a menu of actions which can be taken on the document, such as Edit, Send, as well as Follow.

Using people search is another feature that is specific to the 2013 search center. The cross-capabilities of Microsoft have made use of SharePoint search center with Lync easy to use and handle. The phonetic search is available by default and shows profiles and content with the hover panel while highlighting enables quick viewability as well.

If there are additional features to SharePoint Search Center which are not being met, the customization of this service is simple.

SharePoint search center works well both in the Cloud and on the premise, and there is no conflict with the use of  multiple browsers and mobile devices.

When you are searching for data in your SharePoint server, SharePoint search will crawl through the data and interpret the metadata that is attached to a document as well as the contents of the item. This also requires that you have decent metadata, which requires planning and overhead to set up.

Federated Search allows you to supplement your SharePoint search with other search indices which have been produced by other search engines. This allows you to view additional content which was not crawled by SharePoint search server. What this means is that you are able to index the information which you have collected, send this to an external search engine and this is formatted back to your SharePoint server. Why is Federated Search good for you? It improves your search and enables you to make use of other abilities of the external search engine which are not embedded in your SharePoint search server.

Refiners:
For refiners in SharePoint Search 2013, it will be noted that all refiners are now deep refiners.  There are two different modes for the refiner web part: standard search results and faceted navigation. For people unfamiliar with SharePoint 2010, this may mean little, but is significant for users that wish to optimize 2013. This allows you to display different templates for viewing data. This is contained with standard search results.

Faceted navigation is a more dynamic environment that is used in conjunction with your term store which you have set up containing relevant metadata for document libraries and other items. This limits the kind of data which will be displayed. This may relate to items which an individual may want to purchase such as a car with various designs, brands, colors and such which make the search improve.

For additional information, see Technet
Reference: SharePoint Search Service Guide