A university website can have hundreds or thousands of web pages, including course catalogues, admissions information, bios for faculty members, research papers, student resources, and information on upcoming events. If a student, parent, faculty member, or researcher cannot find what they are looking for promptly, they will become frustrated, and their willingness to engage with the site will decrease. Selecting the correct site search solutions is critical to ensuring that your university website has the best possible user experience.

Comparison Overview

Why Search Matters for Higher Education Websites

Countless data is generated at every level (undergraduate, graduate, professional, and continuing education) by all the different departments within every university and college. As an example, a prospective student trying to locate information on a scholarship program should not have to go through several hundred pages to locate the necessary information. When it comes to faculty and researchers, they too expect to be able to locate the materials they require immediately.

Utilizing an approved methodology for developing your search engine will improve the overall experience of users, increase their participation levels, and provide your institution with a more consistent format for presenting your content.

ExpertRec: Designed for Fast and Frictionless Search

ExpertRec can help colleges and universities make it easier for students to search for things at their school without having to deal with a lot of complicated technology. The platform automatically establishes a complete index of all university websites so that students will have access to an intuitive yet effective way to search for and find what they are looking for quickly.

If your institution has a limited number of technical staff, then ExpertRec offers a solution that is easy to implement and allows you to search for and manage complex systems without creating your own search engine. You can get things up and running quickly while maintaining complete control over how your search results are displayed, ranked, and experienced by the end user.

For example, a student searching for “MBA admissions” can use ExpertRec to provide the user with results related to admission page links, eligibility requirements, application deadlines, etc., so that they can quickly find the information they need.

Funnelback: Built for Large Educational Institutions

Funnelback is designed with large educational institutions in mind and has been utilized by numerous universities and governmental agencies. It possesses sophisticated searching abilities as well as many customization options. Larger university systems that typically have considerable technical resources may benefit from all the robust capabilities it has to offer.

But depending on the institution’s technology and operational resources, implementing Funnelback can present an extensive amount of effort at both the implementation stage and with ongoing use. For those institutions that want to have a short time frame for an implementation or are looking for a comparatively, if not simpler, deployment, the technical learning process could prove to be an impediment to them.

Although Funnelback offers high-quality search performance, the overall cost and complexity of the solution may make it a less desirable option for smaller colleges and expanding educational institutions.

Algolia: Powerful but Developer-Focused

Algolia has become known for its fast and responsive search abilities and is often used by organizations to develop their own customized search solutions. Although many colleges and universities perform well with Algolia’s search options, they are typically more suited to have some level of development resource involved in the initial installation of an Algolia application, along with creating algorithms for data indexing and optimizing performance continually. Colleges and universities with a strong developer workforce may find value in leveraging this flexibility in order to build their own application using Algolia’s platform. However, for those looking for an out-of-the-box solution and do not want or do not have access to development resources, then implementing an Algolia application may be difficult.

Which Search Solution Is Best for Higher Education?

It Depends on Your Institutional Mission.

Funnelback may be an excellent fit for your university’s needs if you need a lot of enterprise-level customization with a dedicated IT department behind it.

Algolia’s strong capabilities are likely a good match for institutions that want maximum flexibility and have developers who can create and support their search implementations.

However, for the majority of colleges, universities, and other educational institutions that are looking to implement an affordable, easy-to-deploy, AI-enabled search solution, ExpertRec has the best combination of feature set, ease of use, and overall value.

AI-powered search built for colleges and universities

Make campus information instantly discoverable with
ExpertRec

ExpertRec helps universities improve admissions discovery, course search, faculty information access, scholarship visibility, and student engagement through intelligent AI-powered search.

Start Free Trial →

Fast deployment • AI relevance • Better student experience

Why Many Educational Institutions Prefer ExpertRec

Most educational institutions want their search engine to return speedy and reliable results, even if the institution’s website has many resources and no prolonged downtime. Educational institutions will have a better chance of locating and returning results to users quickly, thereby eliminating user frustration when searching for value, and will provide prospective students with the opportunity to locate information about resources and programs before enrolling, thus limiting the amount of technical knowledge that is required to utilize the search engine effectively.

Institutions utilizing ExpertRec’s artificial intelligence-based relevance management system have access to customizable ranking systems, sophisticated analytical tools, and easy-to-implement deployment methods; thereby allowing staff to spend more time on teaching and less time on the complexities of managing their institution’s research infrastructure.

Final Thoughts

Higher Education websites offer a variety of content for multiple types of users with varying information needs. Users may be looking for Admissions or Financial Aid information, detailed descriptions of Faculty Research, upcoming Campus Events, or general search activity; therefore, the Search experience needs to be fast and accurate. Both Funnelback and Algolia have positives; however, if you are looking for very strong search capabilities with ease of implementation, ExpertRec is the best solution. Universities that want to improve user experience and increase user engagement can use ExpertRec as a more intelligent and accessible means of providing users with improved site search.