Correct me if I'm wrong; the HitCount field has been part of the SearchItem SQL table since the begining of DNN. I'm running DNN 3.x. Recently I download the 4.x code a poked through it a little. I did not see the dbo.SearchItem."HitCount" being utilized even in the latest code.
Gonna implement myself & just wanted some input. I was thinking of having SearchResults.aspx display results links that would
1. Point to itself with SearchItemID
2. Record the item was hit
3. Finally redirect to the resource the person thought the were clicking on
Does that sound good? It would cut down on the inital payload of the actual results page because the hrefs would simply refer to itself (SearchRestuls.aspx) and would be able to record the hit as it was happening.
Next time that ResultsItem it retrieved via th dbo.dnn_GetSearchResults I would have it ordered according to SearchItem.HitCount in addition to SearchItemWord.Occurances.