The web pages which the 50 respondents have viewed were supplied by five search engines: Google, MSN, Ilse, Lycos and Kobala.

The respondents were searching for five popular e-commerce products: a loan for a renovation, a second-hand car, a car insurance, an airplane ticket to New York and a Philips mp3 player.

Half of the respondents were given queries aimed at finding information about these products. The other half were searching for the same product but with the intention to buy.

The findings and report recommendations are listed below:

Search behaviour conclusions

• Consumers view a search result for 1,1 second.
• 98% views the organic search results.
• 96% views the top (three) sponsored search results.
• 31% views the sponsored search results on the right.
• Buyers view more search results (10) and take more time to view the results (11,4 seconds). They also focus on familiar brand names.
• Information searchers view less search results (8) and spend less time on a result (9,4 seconds). They pay more attention to contents than to brand names.

Search Engine Marketing recommendations

• Make sure your website has a high position in the search results. Your website will then be noticed and the contents of the search result will be regarded as relevant and topical.
• Try to gain a high position in the organic search results because these results are viewed longest and most often by consumers.
• Use the following elements: known, reliable brand,- and website names, descriptions of interesting website features, mentioning price indications, repeating keywords and mentioning the variety of products on a website. These elements are reasons why consumers will click on a link.
• Do not use capital letters, blatant advertisement and exclamation marks for they are experienced as annoying.

Read the full report here.