How do users really search?

Just read a very interesting article at http://www.webpronews.com/ebusiness...leinHere.htm l

I'm always interested in studies that show what real people do in real situations, as this can help us determine what to focus on.

Very interesting article - thanks, Donna!

There were two studies that came out recently. Saw summaries of both. I'll go back and reference them. One study though, mentioned that there is a difference between placement "over the fold" and "under the fold". Basically it said that listings on the first page, that are within a typical computer screen, say the first 4-6 listings get viewed significantly more than ones just below the screeen.

When we dropped from 6-7 and went from visable to not visable for one keyword phrase we saw a drop in traffic for that phrase.

So..... If I hold #1 in the organic SERPs... should I use ppc on that engine?.... which engine?

I read both articles. I was thinking that even though G delivers 50% more traffic to my site than Y its users tend to turn to PPC far less frequently. On the other hand MSN users turn to PPC more frequently and Y users are somewhere in the middle. I guess I'd look at all case by case.

Dave

I had downloaded the research from Enquiro and read the white paper research. Just got a follow up email asking about further research and or services available by that firm.

I'm interested in the research. One thing they mentioned was about searchers who search "over the fold" first 4-6 ranked items on the first page, versus searchers who look at the entire first page and beyond. We have been rotating between 6-8 in google for a key phrase. Every time we drop just 1 or 2 spots we have less traffic for that phrase. When we go up a slot and possibly get over the fold we have more traffic.

ya very good articles

Enjoyed reading that article Donna - thanks.

I do not think being under the fold is such a bad thing (not too far under) as this acts as a filter to those who are only window shopping and those who are truly seeking a service or product - they will dig deeper until they find what they require.

I also suspect a lot of inexperienced users use their generic SE as supplied by their ISP, although the figures tell us that Google dominates the search "market". I see a lot of people who have their ISP's frontpage as their homepage (freeserve in the UK for instance) and start their search there.

What's an organic listing?


G-Man

Umm "G-Man", did you read the article?_____________________________

Donna, awesome link. That really was a great read. Thanks!

Hmmm, maybe because MSN serves less relevant results, people look at the PPCs first there? Nice observation.

Yep. Just didn't make a lot of sense to me. Probably because I"m new to SEO. I'll keep reading and hopefully the terms will become familiar.

G-Man

Great find, thanks

Dan