Wednesday, July 02, 2003
Consumer WebWatch Research: Consumers Often Confused by Paid Search Results on Search Engines: "False Oracles: Consumer Reaction to Learning the Truth About How Search Engines Work
Results of an Ethnographic Study"
"A year after the U.S. Federal Trade Commission determined there was a need for 'clear and conspicuous disclosures of paid placement' on search engines, Consumer WebWatch's research findings show consumers still cannot always tell what is 'paid' search versus 'pure' or 'algorithmic' search on America's most popular search engines. "
"Major Findings:
1. Most participants had little understanding of how search engines retrieve information from the Web or how they rank or prioritize links on a results page.
2. The majority of participants never clicked beyond the first page of search results as they had blind trust in search engines to present only the best or most accurate unbiased results on the first page. As a result, two-in-five links (or 41%) selected by our participants during the assigned search sessions were paid results.
3. Once enlightened about pay-for-placement, each participant expressed surprise about this search engine marketing practice. Some had negative, emotional reactions.
4. All participants said paid search links on search and navigation sites were often too difficult to recognize or find on many sites, and the disclosure information available was clearly written for the advertiser, not the consumer. Search engine sites that were perceived to be less transparent about these related disclosures lost credibility amongst this group of online consumers."
Results of an Ethnographic Study"
"A year after the U.S. Federal Trade Commission determined there was a need for 'clear and conspicuous disclosures of paid placement' on search engines, Consumer WebWatch's research findings show consumers still cannot always tell what is 'paid' search versus 'pure' or 'algorithmic' search on America's most popular search engines. "
"Major Findings:
1. Most participants had little understanding of how search engines retrieve information from the Web or how they rank or prioritize links on a results page.
2. The majority of participants never clicked beyond the first page of search results as they had blind trust in search engines to present only the best or most accurate unbiased results on the first page. As a result, two-in-five links (or 41%) selected by our participants during the assigned search sessions were paid results.
3. Once enlightened about pay-for-placement, each participant expressed surprise about this search engine marketing practice. Some had negative, emotional reactions.
4. All participants said paid search links on search and navigation sites were often too difficult to recognize or find on many sites, and the disclosure information available was clearly written for the advertiser, not the consumer. Search engine sites that were perceived to be less transparent about these related disclosures lost credibility amongst this group of online consumers."
# posted by Mark : 13:06
