On the
topic of search engine use, a recent survey by Pew Internet
& American Life Project found that 84% of Americans have
used a search engine. Of those that have used a search
engine, the study saw more than fifty percent of them use
them on a daily basis with 87% overall expressing
satisfaction with the results they received. Unlike those of
us in the business, an almost unbelievable 84% of those
surveyed said that they were not yet “largely reliant” on
the Internet with 55% saying that they could find the
information they desired elsewhere. Even more out of line
with the attitudes in our industry, only 17% said they
wouldn’t care if they lost access to the tools provided by
the engines.
When it comes to which engines consumers use, it
is no surprise to many that Google leads the pack. What may
be surprising is the fact that Yahoo, MSN, and Ask Jeeves
made headway into Google’s lead. What that really means is
that Google has not increased its lead with respect to the
other major engines. When reading over the reports, almost
all articles lead with a headline similar to “Yahoo, MSN
Gaining Ground on Google,” but it was not readily apparent
as to what the gain entailed. Ultimately, it involved the
other engines doing a better job at retaining their users.
That is to say, they give them a compelling reason to return
to them. The switching costs for users are so low that
engines have reason to focus on their value proposition.
North of 50% of users surveyed said they use another engine
if their primary engine does not provide the information
they seek. If this pattern happens too frequently, it won’t
be long until the secondary engine becomes the primary engine.
The survey data referenced above speaks to the
first two parts of this article, namely, what role search
engines play in user’s lives and how the engines compare to
one another on satisfaction, loyalty, and future usage. What
these studies also uncovered was that while users may have a
favorite search engine and are becoming more accustomed to
leveraging them for information, these users do not truly
understand their search engine’s revenue model. That is to
say, users on the whole did not make the differentiation
between paid and organic search listings. All of the major
engines differentiate to varying degrees the paid search
results from the organic, including text designating their
paid status along with often a difference in background
color. Even with the differentiators in place, only one in
six people could tell the difference between organic search
results and paid search results. More telling is the fact
that less than 40% polled knew of the differentiation in
the first place.
That so few people were aware of the distinction
can be viewed both positively and negatively. Thinking less
optimistically, in almost all media, it appears as though
there is a natural tendency for people to look for ways
around advertising. This would certainly seem to be the case
with television. TiVo’s popularity has caused much concern
for those in the television business. Similarly, the rise in
pop-up blockers and their impact on overall impressions
served points to users’ tendencies to avoid advertisements
when possible. This suggests that as users become more aware
of the advertisements they will look for ways to avoid them,
meaning that click through rates on search advertisements
could drop significantly over the upcoming years. If this
is correct, it would present an incredible market change
similar to the impact that spam filtering has had on ad
supported email delivery.
Instead of thinking that as users become aware
of paid search ads and when the means for its bypassing
exist, people will naturally do so, an equally possible view
is that even with a more informed user base, paid search
clicks will not necessarily decline. If this latter view is
correct, a paradigm shift in the way the industry views
advertising might occur. When you compare pop-ups and
television commercials to search, relevancy becomes a key
distinction between the models. Google shows advertisements
and makes an incredible amount of money off them but still
maintains a ninety-plus percent user satisfaction rating.
Were its ads annoying, users would not be happy. Were they
irrelevant, users would not return. When people realize they
have been making money for others when they didn’t think
they were, they might feel let down or disappointed. They
will, however, return because as the numbers show, they find
what they are looking for and have an overall positive
experience.
On Google’s site, they state
as a principal tenet of their business that you can make
money without doing evil. The results here suggest that you
make money by focusing on what people really want. Certainly
obvious but nevertheless definitely missing from much of the
landscape today.
Jay Weintraub
