Earth Skater Internet Marketing
Articles
Search Engine User Behavior
Last Update: Monday, July 30, 2007.
This article summarizes findings of two Penn State University
researchers, who analyzed more than 450,000 Web queries submitted to the
AllTheWeb search engine in a 24-hour
period, reviewing users' actions in chronological order.
Dr. Jim Jansen and Amanda Spink, both assistant professors in Penn
State's information sciences and technology (IST), analyzed more than
450,000 web queries submitted to the AlltheWeb.com search engine in a
24-hour period, and made some very interesting findings.
They studied the length of sessions, number of pages visited, and
relevance of search results. Their findings were presented in a paper titled
"An Analysis of Web Documents Retrieved and Viewed" at the 2003
International Conference on Internet Computing in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Here is a summary of their findings:
- Half of all users entered only one search query.
- 54 percent viewed just one page of search results per visit to the
search engine.
- Searchers typically visit only the top three search results.
- About 55 percent of users checked out one result only.
- Only 19 percent went on to the second page.
- Fewer than 10 percent bothered with the third page of results.
- More than 80 percent stopped after looking at three results.
- Eight out of 10 times, the abstract dissuades searchers from going
to a site.
- Upon clicking through to a site, one in five searchers stay 60
seconds or less.
- One out of every two search results isn't relevant to what the
searcher was looking for.
Conclusion
Getting your web pages indexed by the search engines is clearly not
enough. They must be listed within the first 3 pages of search results,
otherwise eight out of ten searchers will never find it. Ideally, you should
strive for a first page listing. For best results, a top 3 ranking is
needed.
To enhance your chances of getting your listing clicked, improve your
site's search result abstract by making it more enticing and relevant to the
searcher. Many search engines, such as
Google, use the contents of the META description tag as the search
results abstract, if the contents of the tag includes the search query. So
take another look at your web page META description tags.
The findings of this study reiterate the importance of optimizing your
web pages for top search engine rankings. Ignore it at your peril.
Call 877-627-2492 to discuss your marketing plan
today.
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