Thoughts On Current Search Behavior Study
One of my favorite classes in college was Consumer Behavior so I guess that explains my fascination with search behavior. I thought I’d comment on a recent search behavior study conducted by De Vos & Jansen Market Research.
De Vos & Jansen compared the search behavior of two groups of people: Buyers and Information Seekers. From the two groups of 25, their study concludes that the viewing habits of buyers and info seekers are different.
No shock there.
However, one interesting thing about the study is their conclusion that those searchers with the intent to buy viewed more search results and focused more on familiar brand names. More interesting is that while 98% of searchers reviewed natural search results, only 31% of those in the study viewed the sponsored (paid search) listings.
That 31% is probably a generous number, but with a sample size of just 50, I wasn’t surprised that much by it. Other search behavior studies have put this number in the 10-20% range.
The search behavior takeaway here is not rocket science.
If all your Search Engine Marketing eggs (dollars) are in the Paid Search basket (Adwords/YSM), you are missing out on a large percentage of your overall target audience.
Can your business afford to do that?