Jethro
I don't know your phone number so I cut and pasted the article for you
to read on Monday :)
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Surfers impatient with search engines
Getting a high ranking on a search engine is crucial
The web is making people picky and impatient, a US study has found.
Researchers from the Penn State School of Information Sciences and
Technology (IST) found that people are getting frustrated with search
engines and making snap judgements about websites.
Typically surfers visit only the first three results from a query, with
one in five spending one minute or less on a linked web document.
"People make instantaneous judgements about whether to stay on a site,
and if a site doesn't give the right impression users will bypass it,"
said Dr Jim Jansen, Assistant Professor at IST.
Rank importance
Niche search engines that focus on a narrow topic or search engines
that cluster results by finding similarities and grouping them may be
consumers' best bet for improving relevancy
Dr Jim Jansen, IST
Dr Jansen and his co-author Professor Amanda Spink analysed more than
450,000 web queries submitted to the AlltheWeb.com search engine in a
24-hour period.
More than half of users checked out only one result and more than 80%
stopped after looking at three results.
It will make sobering reading for businesses using search engines to
market themselves.
The findings illustrate the importance of having a good ranking on a web
search engine.
Site developers must be crystal clear about what their website is about
if they want to attract surfers, said Dr Jansen.
Niche search engines
The research also found that half of all users entered only one query
and over half of those viewed just one page of results.
An additional 19% went on the second page but fewer than 10% bothered
with a third page.
It suggests that surfers are focused on what they want to find.
"As good as search engines are there is room for improvement," said Dr
Jansen.
"Niche search engines that focus on a narrow topic or search engines
that cluster results by finding similarities and grouping them may be
consumers' best bet for improving relevancy," he said.
-----Original Message-----
From: Jethro R Binks [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 27 June 2003 11:49
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Surfers impatient with search engines
On Fri, 27 Jun 2003, Porter, Joel wrote:
> The web is making people picky and impatient, a US study has found...
>
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3023514.stm
I couldn't be bothered to cut and paste this in, takes too long. Why
don't you ring me and read the story to me. But hurry up, I've stuff to
do. Ta.
Mr Friday.
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. . . .
Jethro R Binks
Computing Officer, IT Services
University Of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK
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