| Survey: Most Users Click on Unpaid
Results
May 04, 2004
By: Brian Morrissey
Senior Editor
bmorrissey@dmnews.com
Web searchers find non-paid listings to be more relevant than
paid listings on commercial searches, according to a new study.
The research, conducted by WebSurveyor for search-marketing firm
iProspect, found that 61 percent of searchers clicked on organic
search results as the most relevant result in a search for "used
cars" from a buyer looking to purchase a car. The rest chose
a paid search listing.
WebSurveyor conducted the test with 1,649 users of the four top
search engines. It found that search behavior varied across engines.
The sample has a 3 percent margin of error.
Fredrick Marckini, CEO of iProspect, Watertown, MA, said the
survey highlights the importance of coupling search engine optimization
with paid search advertising.
"You have to look at where people are clicking on the page,"
he said. "The majority of the clicks, other than on MSN,
are happening in the natural search results."
On Google, for example, 72 percent chose an organic listing;
on Yahoo, 61 percent did so. Yet AOL and MSN searchers behaved
much differently. On AOL, half of searchers chose a paid listing.
On MSN, 71 percent clicked on an ad.
The divergent search activity is more striking since MSN uses
Yahoo's algorithmic search and its Overture paid search, while
AOL does the same with Google.
Consumers aren't worried about confusing ads and organic listings,
said Jupiter Research analyst Gary Stein.
"They trust their abilities to discern what is an ad and
what isn't," he said.
MSN and AOL both give paid search results more prominence on
the page and set them off less from organic results. On MSN, in
particular, paid search results are at the top of the page and
listed under the title "featured sites." Both Yahoo
and Google set apart paid search more clearly and label the results
as from "sponsors."
In March, MSN said it would alter its search results to make
the paid listings separate from its non-paid search. MSN said
tests found users were more pleased with their results when paid
links were clearly identified.
Likewise, AOL's search results give more prominence to ads. On
AOL, paid results appear at the top of the page, while Google
sets its paid listings either in a different colored bar at the
top of the page or set apart by a line on the right side.
In 2002,the Federal Trade Commission said search sites should
clearly and conspicuously label which listings are advertisements.
Yahoo has made tentative moves to make money off its algorithmic
results with the rollout of a paid inclusion program in March.
Site Match allows advertisers to pay to have their sites included
in Yahoo's search results. Google has vowed to never accept payment
for inclusion, reiterating this point in the founders' letter
that opened its IPO filing last week.
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