Search Engine Users Find Natural Search Results Most Relevant

Effective online ads.

05.06.04

By WebProNews

A survey conducted by iProspect found that more than 60 percent of Yahoo users and over 72 percent of Google users clicked on a natural search results when looking for the most relevant listing for their query. Natural search results are non-advertisement listings that are returned when a keyword is queried.

User desire for natural search results have caused advertisers to alter their approach to search engine ads in order to ensure that their Web pages are found in the natural search results of Google and Yahoo.

"These findings clearly indicate that in both search engines there is a wide gap between natural search preference and paid advertisement preference. This means marketers who fail to optimize for natural search or human-edited paid inclusion neglect a large percentage of user clicks and the relevant traffic," stated iProspect CEO, Fredrick Marckini.

Other findings from iProspect's Search Engine User Attitudes Survey included:

*60.5 percent of Google, Yahoo!, MSN and AOL users selected a natural search result over paid search advertisements as the most relevant on a sample query

*60.8 percent of Yahoo! and 72.3 percent of Google search engine users chose a natural search result as the most relevant

*71.2 percent of MSN users clicked on a paid search advertisement as the most relevant to their search

*AOL users identified both natural search results and paid search advertisements equally as often as the most relevant

Speculation as to why MSN users have such a high advertiser click rate comes from the presentation of MSN search results. Some observers feel that MSN users may not be able to differentiate between paid search results from natural results.

"This could be attributed to how pay per click (PPC) ads are identified within MSN's returned results. Users who may shy away from paid search listings when they see them may have difficulty distinguishing between the two types of results. Despite this potential case of mistaken identity, the survey shows it is important to have a strong paid search advertisement presence in this specific search engine," Marckini added.

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By WebProNews

Like most reputable search engines, Yahoo offers a toolbar that gives users the ability to search the web without their browsers pointing to Yahoo Search. However, Yahoo.com is not merely a search engine, it is also a portal. Because of that, Yahoo is offering portal-like features on the latest version of the their toolbar.

As first reported on Rugles' web blog, Yahoo's toolbar features a button that contains links to advertisers. Currently, because of Mother's Day being on Sunday, the advertisers on the toolbar are florists. This discovery has upset some Yahoo users to the point of removing the toolbar altogether.

These ads show when the toolbar is set to "My Companion Toolbar." This setting basically gives users the elements of Yahoo's index page, which is designed like a portal. If users so choose, the advertisement tab has the option of removing it.
The two other toolbar setting are Search Companion and Finance Companion.

The Search Companion Toolbar setting gives the standard options to search, highlight selections, sign in to Yahoo and block pop ups. The financial companion gives users the ability to research stock prices, mutual funds, bonds etc. The toolbar also gives users the option of managing personal finances like bill payment and requesting credit reports.

Yahoo's advertisement tab only appears on the "My Companion" setting. It can be removed from the toolbar by clicking "Remove This Button" from the options list.

Altering the toolbar's appearance and available tabs is done by right-clicking the edit button. Users are then taken to Yahoo's sign in page where they have to sign in before altering the toolbar. After they sign in, they are taken to a page that has a list of options that can be added or removed. They then can select what changes they would like to make and Yahoo saves these preferences and sends them back to the toolbar.

Why this can't be done directly from the toolbar is most interesting.

About the Author:
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