Are you a Googler?
So you go onto the internet to buy that new CD. Where do you go? Are you one of the 88% of the UK internet users that go straight to the ‘fountain of knowledge’ that is the search giant Google. Or are you the rebel that fights against the giant and uses the less popular Yahoo. Or better still Ask!
Search engines have become one of the everyday search tools of the internet for many users. Is this because it is easy and convenient or that we are too lazy to do it ourself so get a piece of software to do it for us.
Whether we use a search engine can highlight our competence and comfort of using the internet in confidence. What do i mean?
Well many internet users have a set selection of brands/websites that they have stored away in the special place of their brain. In relation to purchasing our CD how many people would use a search engine to find the best deal or go straight to Amazon or Play. Many internet users have learnt from recommendation or from previous use of where to find products and set items. What is interesting is that we return to these sites with the pre-conception that we are going to get a good deal from them as we got a deal before. How many of us can say that once we have our portfolio of trusted sites we go outside of them in search for a better deal? This could be due to the safety of reduced risk through familiarity of the sites we use. New sites challenge the norm that we have become attached to and increase the level of risk to uncertainty. This is a challenge that new sites have to deal with and is closely linked with the rate of diffusion of innovation.
So this could highlight a trend that once we have found our ‘trusted site’ the search engine is not used for that area again. This would show that the use of search engines follows the funneling technique where users start a broad search definition term to find the specific site they require.
One Response to “Are you a Googler?”
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Another way at looking at this is not that Google and search engines are a bad thing. If they are used corectly they can prove to be a useful tool. If we use an inverse funneling technique (searching sites before we move to a search engine) to gather information we can optimise the search function to our benefit.
By this i mean if we use this method of typing in detailed search terms we will get more defined answers generated. If we don’t and use the traditional funneling method we will more than likely get the broad piffle that arrises from this method.
This highlights to marketers that paid search and key terms must be fully researched and purchased carefully. Some search users will use the defined terms that generally will not be considered for purchase meaning that they will be unsuccessful in the search rankings if it hasn’t been brought. Furthermore, the more defined terms will be cheaper to purchase due to their nicheness making it more cost effective for a business.
However, a word of warning. As the post highlighted above many internet users will not have the knoledge of websites to be able to complete the inverse technique unless they have familiarity to the area before hand.
So don’t ignore the broad key terms. Just be more selective a think of the bigger more defined picture.
ergmonkey - 11/04/2009 at 9:02 am