Search Engine Marketing, Inc.: Driving Search Traffic to Your Companys Web Site [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Chapter 4. How Searchers Work

Management Would Be Easy…If It Weren't for the People is the whimsical title of Patricia J. Addesso's excellent book (American Management Association, 1996). Similarly, search marketing would be a lot easier if we did not have to worry about those pesky searchers.searchers workhow they think, what they do, and what you can do about it. Not surprisingly, any effective search marketing program requires a solid understanding of the Web searcher. This chapter covers the following topics:

Visitor behavior.
Before we look at the particulars of how searchers behave, we need to take a look at some general findings on the behavior of visitors to Web sites.

The searcher's intent.
When formulating the query, every searcher has some objective in mind. Understanding the searcher's intent helps you provide the right information for the search engine to returnwe can categorize search queries into several distinct types.

The searcher's click.
What links on the search results page do searchers click? We review the latest research into why searchers click where they do.

The searcher's follow-through.
Getting the searcher to visit your site is only half the battle. You need to develop your model of what visitors do on your site after they search to be sure that they will follow throughto buy your product, or sign up for your newsletter, or vote for your candidate.

Anyone who spends time studying people realizes that they interact with the world in unexpected and complex ways, and searchers are no exception. Let's start by examining the basic principles of how Web site visitors behave.