Still searching after all this time
Whatever you're looking for, whether it's your horoscope or the best deals in online shopping, you'll find it on the Internet - and you'll most likely use a search engine to look for it. That simple truth is the reason why several leading search engines, including Alta Vista and Terra Lycos, are turning away from the portal approach and going back to their core business - search.
AltaVista, for example, has re-launched its site with an ad-free home page, fresher search results, updated navigation for news publications and new tools for pinpointing relevant pages in order to reassert its Òleadership position in global search". Terra Lycos, likewise, want to concentrate on their biggest revenue generator - search.
They're necessarily not doing it because they want to - but because they have to satisfy increasingly demanding users, accustomed to getting what they want. Google, after all, isn't the number one search engine in the world, with a global usage share of 55.1 %, for nothing. They don't diversify, they just make sure their index - and the quality of their users' search experience - is second to none.
Google hasn't just transformed the quality of the search experience for millions, it has accordingly set the standard to which other search engines now aspire. According to new statistics, the majority of search engine users now expect to be able to find what they are looking for within the first two pages of the search results. According to the iProspect Search Engine Branding Survey, 16 % of respondents only look at the first few entries, and almost 32 % read through the whole page. Only 23% of searchers go beyond to the second page, with the numbers dropping significantly for every page thereafter. Only 10% make it through the first three pages.
That means more than half (56.6 %) of Internet users abandon their searches after the first two pages. While many search engines offer a 'refined search' facility, only 7.5% of those surveyed use the service. The rest will go to another search engine. Guess which one?
So it's little surprise the search engines are re-focussing on search - and further proof that search engine visibility is more critical than ever to a web business's success. First page positioning isn't just a luxury, it's a necessity and, as a result, more and more online businesses appreciate the value that search engine visibility can deliver.
Our own experience, here at Weboptimiser, bears this out. Only a few years ago we'd talk to companies who couldn't understand why they weren't number one on the search engines, as they were in the real world. We'd meet companies who refused to believe that people weren't typing their URL directly into the browser and agencies who had never heard of search engine-friendly web design, preferring Flash animations instead.
It's different today. Now that people appreciate the power of the search engines, they're keen to harness it for themselves. Being search engine-friendly, once an afterthought at best, is an integral part of building, managing and marketing a site and a key factor in turning web investment into net equity. At the same time, the search engine optimisation options are wider - and more effective - than ever. Sites can buy their way to the top with pay-per-click campaigns, the new Trusted Feed system enables hard-to-index database-driven sites such as online travel, shopping, auctions and banking to optimise hundreds of pages, whilst delivering visitors straight to the content they're looking for. Likewise, now that the search engines are clamping down with increasing force on cloaking and spamming, ethical optimisation has become the only option for big brands who have invested millions in their net integrity.
According to a survey by Search123, 81% of respondents are allocating at least 75% of their online advertising budgets to search engine marketing, compared to the situation just two years ago when 97% of leading companies had given it no thought at all, with predictable results. When you consider the value that search engine optimisation can add - greater visibility, better functionality, enhanced customer loyalty and improved profitability - it's money well spent.
David White
CEO
Weboptimiser Ltd
