Business Users Prefer Organic Search Results to Paid Listings

(Aberdeen, MD)
A recent survey of business users and their search behavior conducted by WebAdvantage.net, a search engine marketing and interactive agency, reveals that members of the business community rely more heavily on organic search results than paid search listings. According to the survey, 85 percent of the respondents claim to click on sponsored links less than 40 percent of all searches, but nearly half of the audience (49 percent) does not seem to know the difference between paid and unpaid listings. Unlike the consumer audience which has been found to not drill down past the first page of search results, 92 percent of WebAdvantage.net survey respondents say they continue past the first pages of search results with 36 percent asserting they drill beyond the fourth page of search results.
When asked about the relevancy of search engine sponsored links and advertisements, business searchers responded that even when clicked on, paid links do not yield the best results. Seventy-eight percent of all respondents feel that they find the information that they are looking for less than 40 percent of the time through sponsored links, and the search engine business searches go to first is Google, which 66 percent of the respondents say they use most. The other top search engines among the business community include Yahoo (15.25 percent) and MSN (7.8 percent).

The survey, which was conducted between October 1st and 31st, polled 475 respondents and has an overall margin of error of 2.6 percent. A white paper with survey results can be accessed at http://www.webadvantage.net/news.cfm?news_category_id=1&&news_item_id=140&&a=2.

Founded in 1998, WebAdvantage.net is a private company that develops and implements results-driven, direct response strategies using the Internet. Its core competencies include search engine optimization, paid search campaign management, online advertising and email marketing. Company president Hollis Thomases is a frequent editorial contributor to both online and off-line publications and public speaker at Internet-related conferences and educational events. For more information, visit WebAdvantage.net’s web site at www.webadvantage.net or call (410) 297-9495.

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