Victorian
Government
Contact Centre
1300 366 356
Government
Contact Centre
1300 366 356
Main Menu
Resize Text
Categories, RSS and More
RSS News Feeds
Rate this Site
Members Forum
Search Behaviour
Articles and resources about users behaviour when using search engines.
1
Site Articles
- Search Behaviour
- Articles and resources about users behaviour when using search engines.
Added: 12 December 2005
Page views: 2,566
Rating: 0.0
Votes: 0
54
External Links
- The Secret Influence Of Search Behavior
- by Kim Krause Berg, cre8pc, January 2, 2012. "... So how do we gauge intent online? Again, we can turn to search. Through search engines we look for evidence of credibility. We can search for outside resources for verification of claims. In place of emoticons, web site designers can include heuristics on authenticity by adding pages covering expertise, work experience, testimonials and provide a history of stability and commitment to an industry, genre or to the web site itself. People look for what is believable or not by looking for evidence of credibility and authenticity. They turn to the web for this information, using social media and sites that offer news, opinion and research. As we become more dependent on which sites and software we trust to give us accurate information, we want more ways of getting to it..."
Added: 16 February 2012;
Page views: 158
Rating: 0
Votes: 0
- One-Word Searches: Search Engines Doing More With Less
- by Paul Burani, Search Engine Watch, December 19, 2011. "... There's a curious trend going on behind the scenes, one that hasn't received a whole lot of publicity: the growing prominence of one-word search queries. We're seeing one-word search queries' share of total search activity growing fast: from 20.3 percent of all search engine queries in January 2009 to 27.2 percent in October 2011, according to Hitwise..."
Added: 22 December 2011;
Page views: 297
Rating: 0
Votes: 0
- Domain Bias in Web Search - in pdf format (1391kb)
- (This document requires the use of Adobe Acrobat Reader). by Samuel Ieong, Nina Mishra, Eldar Sadikov and Li Zhang. Stanford University. December 2011. "Abstract - This paper uncovers a new phenomenon in web search that we call domain bias — a user's propensity to believe that a page is more relevant just because it comes from a particular domain. We provide evidence of the existence of domain bias in click activity as well as in human judgments via a comprehensive collection of experiments. We begin by studying the difference between domains that a search engine surfaces and that users click. Surprisingly, we find that despite changes in the overall distribution of surfaced domains, there has not been a comparable shift in the distribution of clicked domains. Users seem to have learned the landscape of the internet and their click behavior has thus become more predictable over time. Next, we run a blind domain test, akin to a Pepsi/Coke taste test, to determine whether domains can shift a user’s opinion of which page is more relevant. We find that domains can actually flip a user’s preference about 25% of the time. Finally, we demonstrate the existence of systematic do in preferences, even after factoring out confounding issues such as position bias and relevance, two factors that have been used extensively in past work to explain user behavior. The existence of domain bias has numerous consequences including, for example, the importance of discounting click activity from reputable domains..."
Added: 14 December 2011;
Page views: 238
Rating: 0
Votes: 0
- Domain Name Matters: Searchers Pick Brand Over Quality, Study Finds
- by Chris Sherman. Search Engine Land, December 13, 2011. "A new study from Microsoft Research confirms what most SEOs have known for years—that domain names are a crucial element for capturing clicks and conversions from search results. Unlike what’s been published in most search marketing forums, however, this research was not focused on SEO techniques or search engine ranking algorithms, but rather on observed searcher behavior, offering insights about how people actually respond to what’s presented to them in search results..."
Added: 14 December 2011;
Page views: 324
Rating: 0
Votes: 0
- 3 Tips for Understanding and Acting on User Intent
- by Ron Jones. ClickZ, November 28, 2011. "Understanding how people search for things and their intent puts us in a far better position to deliver programs and content to ensure the highest, most relevant levels of traffic to your sites. The old adage "content is king" while still ringing true can be added upon with the notion that "context is king." Basically your keywords, ads, landing page, and content all need to contextually flow together based on users' needs and their intent..."
Added: 30 November 2011;
Page views: 179
Rating: 0
Votes: 0
- Keys To Understanding Search Marketing and User Intent
- by Kim Krause Berg. Search Engine Land, October 14, 2011. "Search engine marketers spend a large portion of their marketing strategies on keyword research. One method is to seek words and phrases that are most likely to be used by searchers to find a particular website... It has always been a mistake to think of search marketing as just a battle of data and algorithms. Understanding why people search is a valuable part of your online marketing strategy..."
Added: 18 October 2011;
Page views: 243
Rating: 0
Votes: 0
- Three Mindsets of Search
- (This document requires the use of Adobe Acrobat Reader). About.com, 2011. "Study revealed three distinct search types: 1.Answer Me (46% of all searches) – People in a “answer me” search want exactly what they ask for, and no more, delivered in a way that allows them to get to it as directly as possible. 2.Educate Me (26% of all searches) – People in an “educate me” search want 360 degrees of understanding, and multiple perspectives on critical topics. They will search until their goal is achieved – this may stretch over long periods of time and through related topics. 3.Inspire Me (28% of all searches) – The fun “browsy” type of search, where people are looking for surprises, have open minds and want to be led..."
Added: 30 September 2011;
Page views: 308
Rating: 0
Votes: 0
- How Marketers Can Connect with the 3 Mindsets of Search [STUDY]
- by Miranda Miller, Search Engine Watch, September 29, 2011. "A recently released research study by About.com and Latitude identifies three distinct mindsets in search and offers insight into how marketers can offer ads and align them with content that better appeals to each mindset. Three Mindsets of Search examines 59 variables in search behavior and also revealed that the meaning of 'expertise' in the eyes of searchers is evolving. Understanding the 3 Mindsets of Search - Answer Me, Educate Me, Inspire Me..."
Added: 30 September 2011;
Page views: 211
Rating: 0
Votes: 0
- Searcher Intent: Why Vertical Search is Now Giving Ground to Core Search
- by Eli Goodman, Search Engine Watch, September 19, 2011. "...Vertical search inherently signified searcher intent, while search engine results were often too broad. Even if the top results were what you wanted, they became diluted pretty quickly and you suddenly had too many interpretations of your intended destination. What's happened is that the search engines have shown considerable improvement in their use of blended search results to better reflect possible searcher intent. The search experience and their algorithm refinements have gotten so good that it sometimes feels as if they are inside of your head reading your thoughts..."
Added: 22 September 2011;
Page views: 243
Rating: 0
Votes: 0
- Using the Internet: Skill related problems in users' online behavior - in pdf format (221kb)
- (This document requires the use of Adobe Acrobat Reader). by Alexander J.A.M. van Deursen, Jan A.G.M. van Dijk. Department of Media, Communication and Organization, University of Twente, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands. Interacting with Computers, 2009. "Abstract - This study extends the conventional and superficial notion of measuring digital skills by proposing definitions for operational, formal, information and strategic skills. The main purpose was to identify individual skill related problems that users experience when navigating the Internet. In particular, lower levels of education and aging seem to contribute to the amount of experienced operational and formal skill related problems. With respect to information skills, higher levels of education seem to perform best. Age did not seem to contribute to information skill related problems. Results did reveal that age had a negative effect on selecting irrelevant search results. Individual strategic Internet skill related problems occurred often, with the exception of subjects with higher levels of education. Younger subjects experienced far less operational and formal skill related problems, but there was no difference regarding information and strategic skill related problems..."
Added: 8 September 2011;
Page views: 350
Rating: 0
Votes: 0
- Searcher Demographics - We Are What We Search
- by Eli Goodman. Search Engine Watch, August 22, 2011. "... Every searcher can be defined by the words they use when searching. Search engines and marketers alike know this and do their best to deliver you relevant results based on who they think you are and your intent at that exact moment. As an extension of the targeting by intent strategy, a sophisticated and growing segment of brands are turning to searcher demographics to conduct detailed analyses of their online audience..."
Added: 24 August 2011;
Page views: 434
Rating: 0
Votes: 0
- Ask.com Users are the Most Verbose Internet Searchers
- by Jay McQuillan | in Bing, Google, Search Engines, Yahoo! Chitika Insights, June 29, 2011. "... Chitika Insights wanted to examine how the number of words in a search query varied with the particular search engine. Yesterday, we looked at the five most popular search engines in the US: Google, Yahoo, Ask, Bing, and AOL..."
Added: 11 July 2011;
Page views: 420
Rating: 0
Votes: 0
- Findability, SEO, And The Searcher Experience
- by Shari Thurow. Search Engine Land, January 21, 2011. "All too often, we hear web developers, search engine optimization (SEO) professionals, usability practitioners, and even search engine reps claim, 'It's good for the user experience'. And we blindly accept that explanation... Well, fellow search professionals, I don’t know about you, but I am weary of this statement. The reason? I do not hear anyone clearly defining what the user experience is, especially when referring the searcher experience. Fortunately, one of my esteemed colleagues, information architect Peter Morville, has defined and explained what he believes to be the searcher experience in his book Search Patterns (reference below), which is based on his user experience honeycomb. I have used his definition and explanation of the searcher experience for many years, and I have found it to be valid and credible for every SEO, website usability, and search-engine friendly design project I work on..."
Added: 15 February 2011;
Page views: 518
Rating: 0
Votes: 0
- User behavior in SERPs. Eye tracking study July 2010
- Posted By: Ani López. Dynamical.biz, August 24, 2010. "This fantastic study was done by Mari Carmen Marcos and Cristina González Caro at Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona and published July 2010... There are some previous studies analyzing the search engines results pages (SERPs) but this is the first one trying to determine whether the intention behind queries affects the way people browse the results page, the relationship between gaze patterns and intentionality while performing queries..."
Added: 26 August 2010;
Page views: 1,012
Rating: 0
Votes: 0
- Eye Tracking Study Shows Importance Of Search Snippets
- by Barry Schwartz. Search Engine Land, August 25, 2010. "... The study shows that the search snippet, often the meta description from the site, is an extremely important factor for searchers. The study included 58 people of both genders and wide age range and tested informational, navigational, transactional and multimedia types of searches. The searches were done on Google, Google Images, Yahoo and Yahoo Images with a total of 22 tasks per person..."
Added: 26 August 2010;
Page views: 1,080
Rating: 0
Votes: 0
This category last updated: 16 February 2012
Search, Login and Options
Search
Mailing List
Enter your email address to subscribe or unsubscribe from the eGov What's New mailing list.
Email a Friend
Please enter email address of the person you wish to send this page to.
