Surfers stop at page 3 of the search engines
Here's an interesting study about search behavior of individuals. Got it from newkerala.
Here's a tip for companies, if you want to attract people, make sure that you're found on the first page of a search engine, for a new survey has found that not only are such companies found linked to top brands, but that most people only bother going through the first three pages before giving up.
The survey of 2,369 people from a US online consumer panel by Jupiter Research and marketing firm iProspect, found that not only did a third of the users link companies in the first page of results with top brands, but that 41 percent of consumers changed engines or their search term if could not locate their topic on the first three pages.
I found this to be absolutely true as I myself rarely bother to look at search results from Page 4 onwards.
People want to see what they're looking for in Page 1 to 3 of the search engines. This means, to reach your target market, you need to rank within the top 30. Otherwise, you're missing a lot of potential business.
It really pays to be at the top 30 of the number 1 search engine Google, but it is best not to discard Yahoo and MSN. As the study shows, people do shift to another search engine if they can't find what they're looking for.
Using Search Engines | admin | 26 April 2006 |
