iProspect recently reported the results of a survey it conducted with the help of Jupiter Research. The study looked at web surfers’ online behavior, with a particular focus on how users conduct online searches with the search engines. While no specific search engine was singled out, the survey’s results can tell SEOs and SEMs a great deal about how they should be conducting their online campaigns.
The “Search Engine User Behavior Study,” published by iProspect in April of 2006, also reported the results of similar surveys it conducted in 2002 and 2004 for comparison. The sample sizes varied somewhat, with the earlier ones attracting roughly 1500 respondents each, and the most recent one attracting well over 2000 participants. Nevertheless, the companies administering the surveys took care to make sure that each sample was representative of the U.S. online population as a whole at the time each survey was conducted.
This means that the iProspect study not only tells us how surfers use search engines now, but also shows trends in search engine behavior over time. Most of these trends confirm what many SEOs and SEMs have known for quite some time. Still, while there may not be many surprises in the study, it’s helpful to have something to back you up when you’re trying to drive your point home to a client about the importance of optimizing their website to rank high on the search engine results pages.
One final note before I plunge into the study’s findings: you can expect certain significant differences in the results if the survey is conducted again in 2008. While some trends may solidify to an even greater degree, at least one “trend” should actually weaken as the general population of web surfers becomes more sophisticated. This means online marketers should do their best to cash in on it now.
Search Optimization 
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