The Art of SEO

The Human Goals of Searching

The basic goal of a human searcher is to obtain information relevant to her inquiry. However, searcher inquiries can take many different forms. One of the most important elements to building an online marketing strategy for a website around SEO and search rankings is developing a thorough understanding of the psychology of your target audience. Once you understand how the average searcher, and more specifically, your target market, uses search engines, you can more effectively reach and keep those users.

Search engine usage has evolved over the years, but the primary principles of conducting a search remain largely unchanged. The following steps comprise most search processes:

1. Experience the need for an answer, solution, or piece of information. For example, the user may be looking for a website (navigational query) to buy something (transactional query) or to learn something (informational query). We will discuss this in more detail in the following section.

2. Formulate that need in a string of words and phrases (the query). Most people formulate their queries in one to three words. ComScore data from March 2009 shows an average query length of 2.9 words. A more detailed look shows the following percentages of searches per word length (see Table 1-1).

   Table 1-1. Searches by query length (comScore)

   Words	Percent of searches
   1	25.32%
   2	24.96%
   3	19.80%
   4	13.17%
   5	7.53%
   6	4.04%
   7	2.15%
   8	1.19%

   Data from Hitwise for this book shows a similar distribution of search query lengths (see Table 1-2).

   Table 1-2. Searches by query length (Hitwise)

   Percentage of U.S. clicks by number of keywords
   Subject	February 2008	January 2009	February 2009	Year-over-year % change
   One word	21.04%	20.29%	20.48%	–3%
   Two words	24.73%	23.65%	23.47%	–5%
   Three words	21.84%	21.92%	21.68%	–1%
   Four words	14.53%	14.89%	14.98%	3%
   Five words	8.29%	8.68%	8.72%	5%
   Six words	4.38%	4.65%	4.71%	8%
   Seven words	2.29%	2.49%	2.51%	10%
   Eight or more words	2.90%	3.43%	3.47%	20%
   Note: data is based on four-week rolling periods (ending February 28, 2009; January 31, 2009; and March 1, 2008) from the Hitwise sample of 10 million U.S. Internet users.
   Source: Hitwise, an Experian company

3. Execute the query, check the results, see whether you got what you wanted, and if not, try a refined query.

When this process results in the satisfactory completion of a task, a positive experience is created for the user, the search engine, and the site providing the information or result.

Who Searches and What Do They Search For?

ComScore reported that the number of search queries performed on the Web was approximately 12.6 billion across all engines in December 2008.

ComScore data shows that just under 79 million people in the United States were using a search engine on a given day in January 2009. Search engine users were slightly more likely to be women than men (50.4% versus 49.6%). According to comScore, Internet usage increases with household income, as per the data shown in Table 1-3 for January 2009.

Table 1-3. Internet users by household income

Household income	Internet users
$15,000–$24,999	5,792
$25,000–$39,999	16,108
$40,000–$59,999	39,716
$60,000–$74,999	20,947
$75,000–$99,000	28,995
$100,000 or more	44,627

You can find additional data from studies, surveys, and white papers on Search Engine Land’s Stats & Behaviors page.

All of this research data leads us to some important conclusions about web search and marketing through search engines. For example:

• Search is very, very popular. It reaches nearly every online American and billions of people around the world.

• Google is the dominant player in most world markets.

• Users tend to use short search phrases, but these are gradually getting longer.

• Search covers all types of markets.

Search is undoubtedly one of the best and most important ways to reach consumers and build a business, no matter the size, reach, or focus.