Search or navigation? That is the question.

I was part of a presentation recently where one of the speakers made this statement: “When you go to a Web site, what do you do? You search, right?  That’s how everybody finds what they are looking for.” As I was driving to Atlanta, I was thinking about that a lot (two digressions: first, the fact that I spend my time on a long drive thinking about navigating  versus searching is a sign I need to get a life, and second, watch out Atlanta, Neal’s got wheels!). When we last did general usability testing on the Aurora site, eight of the nine participants were navigators, several even quitting some tasks without even so much as attempting a single search. And the search box is in the typical upper right-hand spot, so it isn’t hard to find, and the users didn’t have a problem finding the search when asked.  Their response is that they usually get such bad results when searching, that they didn’t think it was worth their time. I also am a navigator first, although I’ll try a search if a few clicks of navigation aren’t getting the job done. Another point to consider:  The Aurora site didn’t get a lot of site searches. Certainly a lot less than I’ve seen on other sites that we’ve reviewed. Again, I don’t think the search is hidden or in an unusual spot.  Could it be that all those users who told us how easy the site was to use were able to find what they were looking for without searching? I don’t suppose this will ever be a Mac vs. PC kind of argument that generates impassioned arguments one way or the other. It’s kind of obvious to say you need both good navigation and a solid search function. But I worry that too many people assume that search is how people find things, when in fact it’s how only some people look, and may be the last ditch effort of users who otherwise couldn’t find what they were looking for by clicking.