Consumer Search Insights

Since Google rolled out their consumer insights product we have ran a number of surveys asking users about search & online advertising. At first we were going to put them out all at once, but the results have been coming in slowly over time & take a while to format (and the results are pretty darn interesting), so we decided we would release them one at a time & add further updates to this page when they are ready.

The following group of surveys was done in the March to April of 2012 timeframe.

• Consumer Ad Awareness in Search Results: Even directly after viewing a search result with 3 ads in it, most users are uncertain of where ads may appear, what color the ads are, and if the search result even had any ads in it!
• General Consumer Awareness of Common SEO/SEM Terms
• Do users like when search engines promote their own offerings in the search results? nearly 3 in 4 people believe that search engines should not preferentially promote their own listings.
• How do you feel Google+ integration has impacted Google's relevancy? Most users do not think it has much impact. Less than 1 in 5 think it improves relevancy & less than 1 in 5 think it harms relevancy.
• Do users like ad retargeting? Over 3 in 5 dislike it, while fewer than 1 in 10 like it
• No survey would be complete without asking users what they think of the survey format: over 3 in 5 dislike content locking survey ads, while fewer than 1 in 10 like it
• Paid placement in search results: nearly 2 in 3 people dislike money influencing search results.
• If you use a search engine but don't find what you are looking for, which are you more likely to do? A slight majority of people are more likely to search again than to click onto page 2 of the search results.
• How many search engines do you typically use in a given month? Most searchers only use 1 or perhaps 2 search engines in a given month.
• When you search, how did you pick your primary search engine? Men tend to care more about the perception of relevancy, whereas women tend to be more inclined to use the default search engine.
• Which do you trust most as a source of advice on important issues? People who make less tend to rely more on friends & family, while people who earn more tend to trust newpapers and blogs more.

In March of 2015 we also ran a survey asking users about result highlighting on mobile search result pages.

If you find these interesting the please read to our blog or subscribe to the RSS feed for future updates.