Verifying finding things.
WHAT TO TEST
Exact matches Partial matches Multiple terms Terms in different orders Case differences Misspellings
WHAT TO VERIFY ABOUT RELEVANCE
That obviously relevant results appear first.
HOW TO TEST THAT
A set of queries with known expected results.
WHAT TO TEST ABOUT NO RESULTS
That it is handled clearly That suggestions or alternatives appear
WHAT TO TEST ABOUT SPECIAL CHARACTERS
Punctuation Quotation marks Characters with syntactic meaning in the search engine
WHY THAT LAST POINT
They can cause errors or unintended behaviour.
WHAT TO TEST ABOUT FILTERS
Each filter alone Filters combined Filters producing no results Clearing filters
WHAT TO TEST ABOUT PERMISSIONS
That results exclude what the user may not see.
WHY THAT IS CRITICAL
Search is a common route to exposing data the interface otherwise hides.
WHAT TO TEST ABOUT INDEXING
That new content appears That changed content updates That deleted content disappears
WHY DELETION SPECIFICALLY
Stale index entries expose removed content.
WHAT TO TEST AT VOLUME
Performance, with realistic data.
