7.6 Searches
A search is counted any time the platform executes a search to retrieve a new set of results. This means that platforms performing multiple searches (e.g. search for exact match, search for words in subject, general search) to return a single set of results ordered by relevancy must only count a single search, not multiple searches.
Design options and activities that do count as separate searches include:
Platforms where multiple searches are conducted to retrieve and present multiple result sets, for example to deliver multi-tab search result interfaces.
Platforms where applying a facet or filter requires the search to be re-run.
Where browsing triggers a search, for example where clicking on a topic from browse lists conducts a search to present a set of topic-specific search results.
Note that link resolution MUST NOT count as a search.
7.6.1 Discovery Services and Other Multiple-Database Searches
Search activity generated by discovery services and other systems where multiple databases are searched simultaneously and the user does not have the option of selecting the databases being searched MUST be counted as Searches_Automated on Database Reports. Such searches MUST be included on the Platform Reports as Searches_Platform, but only as a single search regardless of the number of databases searched.
Example: A user searches a content site where 20 databases have been pre-selected for business and economics searches and the user does not have the option to change the selection. For each search conducted by the user:
In the Database Report, each of the 20 databases gets credit for 1 Searches_Automated.
In the Platform Report, Searches_Platform gets credited by 1.