Do People Always Search To Be Sent To Another Site?

from the questions,-questions dept

Mon, Oct 1st 2007 11:13pm — Mike Masnick

Mashable points us to a study done by online research firm Compete about which search engines do better in "search fulfillment." That is, what percentage of search queries on a particular search engine lead to someone clicking through to a search result. Yahoo clearly beats out Google (who then beats Microsoft). The theory, then, is that Yahoo does a better job pointing people to what they want to know about, since more of the queries end up in clickthroughs -- and that may certainly be true. However, it's not the only explanation. John Battelle weighs in to suggest that Google users may simply refine their queries a few times before clicking through to the desired results. Another possibility is one that happens to me all the time: if I'm searching for information and not a website, I may not need to clickthrough at all. I can just see the information needed in the snipped found in the search. So you could read the study as saying that Microsoft and Google provide more relevant snippets than Yahoo. The truth is probably somewhere in between, so while this data is interesting, as an aggregate number, it probably doesn't tell us very much.

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Filed Under: search, search engines, search fulfillment, search quality
Companies: google, yahoo

27 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 2 Oct 2007 @ 12:39am

Also, I habitually click google's cached page link and don't visit sites that have had their cached pages removed.
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Oct 2007 @ 2:08am

I also frequently use Google's built-in conversion calculator.

Try typing "60 mph in furlongs per fortnight" (without the quotes) in the Google search box for an example. I think it only works from the Google page itself, though - not the Google search bar in your browser.

I don't know if using the Google calculator counts as a "search", but it certainly doesn't lead to a click-through, since the answer's right there on the results page.
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phil, 2 Oct 2007 @ 2:18am

audience
The more I look, the more I believe that Google is used by the more tech savvy, while the slightly less discerning searcher uses Yahoo. So I think this boils down to discernment. Simply put, fewer Google users click through indiscriminately. Regardless of whether the snippet suggests they have a good result.
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Walter M, 2 Oct 2007 @ 3:12am

Thumbnails for faster and better finding
I use the girafa thumbnail toolbar to search and find all i need. the thumbnails helps in finding the information you are looking for faster
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Todd, 2 Oct 2007 @ 4:33am

I'll use Google as a spell check sometimes. If I'm not sure about a word, I type it in, and if it comes back "did you mean xxx" then I get the correct spelling.
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Jeremy Boyd, 2 Oct 2007 @ 4:43am

Calculator & dictionary
@2: It works just fine via the toolbar. I use it all the time. Also, I often use Google as an ad hoc dictionary. Tell Google "define " and quite often the definition you want is the first result. No clickthroughs there, and the definitions most certainly count as searches.
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Oct 2007 @ 5:29am

stupid Vs ... not stupid...
From working at an ISP for several years, in tech support. i have found that about 75%+ of 'Stupid' or, 'Very computer/interweb illiterate' people use yahoo.

but those who know how to remotely use their computer or remotely use the internet. use google.

summary,
idiots use yahoo
competent people use google
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Kenny, 2 Oct 2007 @ 6:07am

Re: stupid Vs ... not stupid...
Couldn't agree more. I think there's actually a geographical split as well. I read today that Google has a 50% (or thereabouts) share of search in the US, whereas in Europe it's more like 75%. Maybe we're more tech savvy here in Europe? :-)
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krm, 2 Oct 2007 @ 6:11am

Age Gap
Another thing I have noticed is age seems to be a factor. I am from a family of 6 ranging from 35 to 16 (busy parents) it seems all my siblings that are other 26 are drawn to yahoo, and every one that is younger uses google. This kind of ties back to "stupid VS... not stupid" since it seems the younger folks are much better behind anything electronic.
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Just Me, 2 Oct 2007 @ 6:30am

Spell Check
Just an FYI - if you use Firefox you can actually get spell-check right in the browser so you don't need to use Google.

I'm sure there's a million IE snap-ins that will do this as well, but I don't use IE.
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Tarky7, 2 Oct 2007 @ 6:42am

Spell Check , Search and General Web Idiocy
I use Google to spellcheck all the time.

I too am looking at the Google's cache, Page Rank and Backward Links.

The Stupid vs. not Stupid is a very interesting take. I am astounded how many of my clients or people I am doing consulting with use Yahoo. I have several friends who are in the SEM world that only use Yahoo search, because they prefer yahoo mail. I usually associate people who mostly search with Yahoo to be 'less than' in my mind, but I think that is my own prejudice.

Then, there are a bunch on people I know who only view the web through the AOL browser...

*throws up hands in frustration*
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Just Me, 2 Oct 2007 @ 6:52am

Google VS Yahoo
Seems just about everyone I know uses Google. I was actually pretty surprised by the article's findings since I know all of 2 people that use Yahoo.

...of course almost everyone I know works in IT so...
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Chronno S. Trigger, 2 Oct 2007 @ 7:13am

Re: Spell Check
FYI PS: if you use Google toolbar in IE it has spell check built in.
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Anonymous Jerk, 2 Oct 2007 @ 7:13am

RE: by Anonymous Coward
Actually, it does work from your Google toolbar. Never knew that before.

Regardless of who says they have the best search engine, I've always had good luck with Google, and I don't get spam from the services that require email. That's good enough for me.
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Chuck Norris' Enemy (deceased), 2 Oct 2007 @ 7:30am

You guys are nuts!
Does it really matter? Google and Yahoo! both work fine. Stop pretending there is some intelligence issue related to choice of search engine. I use Google by default but sometimes the Google search results are not that relevant and I try a search on Yahoo and I get better links. Generally they both produce about 5 of 10 results that are the same in the top 10. But I would definitely not recommend Microsoft's offering.
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~me, 2 Oct 2007 @ 7:54am

...
I've found that people that click through on Yahoo search results also use MySpace a lot. New statistic.
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~me, 2 Oct 2007 @ 7:56am

Re: Re: Spell Check
Woah... IE did something. It'd be really handy if they did something useful for the rest of the web.
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Darkstar, 2 Oct 2007 @ 8:00am

Tech?,Search Engine? ha ha ha
Makes no sense
Typing word on the empty box and hiting one button makes you TECH HA HA AH
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Hua Fang, 2 Oct 2007 @ 9:03am

Combining Google's desktop and web search, its synergy comes handy. I'm not too sure that other two (MS and Yahoo)can do the same.
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nipseyrussell, 2 Oct 2007 @ 9:04am

i will admit i didnt read the article, but couldnt this be read as Yahoo having WORSE results? if the average click through rate is the number of links clicked divided by the number of searches, then if you had to click through on two different links for every search (because the first one was irrelevant) then the average percentage would be HIGHER for worse results (assuming hitting the back button to the results page isnt counted as a second search)
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dabbler, 2 Oct 2007 @ 9:11am

i think that different demographics use different search engines also. Yahoo definately tries to appeal to a different audience, just look at the pop culture headlines on their mainpage. prehaps their audience of less experienced computer users are just worse at getting what they want from a search engine?
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Dan, 2 Oct 2007 @ 9:22am

Googlepedia
People might also be using plugins. I use http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Faddons.mozilla.org%2Ffirefox %2Faddon%2F2517&ei=wm8CR8eXN6G0etnXjNEC&usg=AFQjCNEwEgwQRd7WN7IfeXPNf8ESwjaiQw&sig2=KkVO L8ZXQAK_xXGO1XAoPw googlepedia all the time...it shows a wikipedia entry next to my google search results. 50% of the time, that plus the snippets provide the info i'm looking for.
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Tin Ear, 2 Oct 2007 @ 10:34am

Google and Hotmail...
A fair number of years ago (I don't know if it still holds true. Probably not.) I was astounded, no, flabbergasted to hear that the NUMBER ONE search on Google was the word "Hotmail".

I just hope that the percentage of 'informed internet users' has risen since then.
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John, 2 Oct 2007 @ 12:43pm

google...
Not just used for personal searches. What about people who google whack or google hack. They constitute a huge amount of google searches. Since everyone uses google for these, no other search engine would be affected.

When is the last time someone asked for a cool ask.com hack?
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Oct 2007 @ 3:29pm

I have a gmail account and a Yahoo mail account. I use google to search, most of the time, and I use the Yahoo mail account, most of the time, (mainly because I prefer the user interface).

Frankly, I think the 'google users are more intelligent' argument is a nonsense. Yes, I'm in IT and been in the computer industry for 30 years.
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ScytheNoire, 3 Oct 2007 @ 1:19am

Google
I have to agree that click throughs mean nothing. Google has many more uses than just a search engine. I've used no other search engine since Google appeared. It may well be the single greatest thing to ever hit the internet. When compared to other search engines, there is no comparison, Google finds what I was looking for 99% of the time.

And I do miss Firefox's spellchecker at work, we HAVE to use IE for some stupid reason. Aren't allowed to install our own software, even if it is better. File that under Lame.
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zg, 8 Oct 2007 @ 1:07pm

Re:
Actually from the toolbar it works even better - shows result without your need to do anything so there is not even a page turn.
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