By Elyse Jarvis, Account Coordinator
As users become more aware of the nature of the “search,” it is important for marketing and advertising programs to implement strategy accordingly.
As marketers, we distinctly understand the benefits of SEO practices, but, as a U.S. survey by Performics concluded, user search behavior and awareness of search tactics are changing.
According to the survey:
More than 75 percent of respondents use search to further research a product or service after seeing an ad. And, contrary to common understanding of search users as only willing to delve so far to find information they are looking for, Performics found:
• If a searcher doesn’t find what he or she is looking for on the first try, he/she will try, try again.
- 89 percent will modify their search query and try again.
- 89 percent will visit a different search engine.
- 79 percent will sift through multiple results pages to find the information in question.
• 46 percent of respondents click on real-time (i.e. Google Instant) results at least occasionally.
• 43 percent of respondents at least occasionally view or click through on sponsored video ads.
• About 65 percent know the difference between a sponsored search result and a natural search result.
Performics found another interesting result; when users click:
• 88 percent of respondents will click on a result that has the exact search query phrase.
• 53 percent of respondents said they will click on an ad if it includes an image.
• 48 percent will click if the brand appears multiple times in the results pages.
• 26 percent said they are more likely to click on an ad if it includes a video.
The survey also looked at user’s search engine preference and use inclinations. It found that users new to search are more likely to use Yahoo as their primary search engine, and Yahoo users are more likely to view sponsored and paid results before to viewing organic listings.
Unsurprisingly, Google sees more visitor loyalty. However, those who choose Google as their primary engine use a different engine for results at least occasionally.
Overall, the survey findings support the idea that users typically trust sources that have the greatest visibility. Users’ apparent tendency to click on real-time search results, and their awareness of the difference between a paid and an organic result, tells us that users are clearly becoming more responsive to the changing atmosphere of search spaces. Knowing that searchers looking for product information are likely to go through multiple pages and engines to find their desired information informs us as marketers. Based on the above data, marketing programs should monitor multiple engines and strategize based on the demographics these engines appeal to in order to ensure optimized success in pay-per-click (PPC) and search engine optimization (SEO) campaigns.
To view more results of the survey, visit this Econsultancy summary.
