How people searchDetermining Searcher Intent:
Once you grasp how your target market searches for your service, product, or resource, you can more effectively reach and keep those users. Be aware that search engines are tools—resources driven by intent.
There are three broad categories that cover most web search queries:
- Informational queries – Queries that cover a broad topic (e.g., Queensland or trucks) for which there may be thousands of relevant results.
- Navigational queries – Queries that seek a single website or web page of a single entity (e.g., youtube or virgin blue airlines).
- Transactional queries – Queries that reflect the intent of the user to perform a particular action, like purchasing a car or downloading ring tones.
An April 2006 study by iProspect and Jupiter Research found that:
- 62% of search engine users click on a search result within the first page of results, and 90% within the first three pages.
- 41% of search engine users who continue their search when not finding what they seek report changing their search term and/or search engine if they do not find what they’re looking for on the first page of results
- 88% report doing so after three pages.
- 36% of users agree that “seeing a company listed among the top results on a search engine makes me think that the company is a top one within its field.”
Understanding Search Engine Results
In the search marketing field, the pages the engines return to fulfill a query are referred to as search engine results pages (SERPs).
Figure 1-1 Layout of Google search results
- Vertical navigation
- Search query box
- Results information
- Query refinement suggestions
- Paid search advertising
- Google local search results on a map
- Organic / algorithmic results
Online advertising drives $6 offline (in stores) for every $1 spent online.
Detecting Online Commercial Intention
Online Commercial Intention Web page searches display two levels of commercial intent: informational and transactional. This tool can detect customer intent to acquire information or to purchase products based on their search queries or recently visited URLs. For example, if a customer searches for "canon digital camera", it is likely that they want to purchase a canon digital camera; therefore, the online commercial intent is strong, with a confidence level larger than 0.5.
