 |
| Recent Articles |
Google's Strategy
Boiling Google's strategy down to just one thing is impossible, but Internet marketers (and search marketers in particular) ought to be thinking about where Google wants to take the industry, because...
Twitter Tips, Tools And Hacks
With Twitter gaining momentum everywhere from on the field to in the classroom, I thought some tips might prove helpful. Call it link bait, call it hypocritical, just don't call it a comeback. 1) Be a Good Twitter Citizen...
Forecast For Yahoo: Mild And Stormy
Layoff rumors swirl ahead of full year report... As one of the biggest brands on the Internet, Yahoo's competitors envy the traffic Yahoo receives. On Wall Street, analysts only see gridlock. No argument withstands the truth...
Nofollow Is Not Suited For Wikis
There is no such thing as a free link. No matter what the person who is selling you it tells you. And the web will always adapt to make it so. Even if its hard work. Barry Schwartz posted Get A Free Link From Wired on an SEO...
Defending Your Website Against Unjust Ranking...
In the past many Google penalties were blatantly obvious. You either got traffic or you did not. But as time has passed penalties are getting blurrier, meaning your site can be penalized and still get traffic from Google.
SES - PPC on Influential Blogs
While most marketers are familiar with Google AdWords, Yahoo! Search Marketing, and Microsoft adCenter, there are a number of new PPC advertising alternatives on...
Security Flaw Hits SecondLife
Linden Labs is advising users that the not fixed security flaw with QuickTime is influencing their users. While this information is a little old, apple has still not patched...
| | 03.24.08
A Quarter Of Internet Users Can't Find Google
 By Jordan McCollum
This week, usability guru Jakob Nielsen asks: " How difficult is it to perform a search on Google?"
No, really. How hard is it? We know the search box in the upper right hand corner of your screen can get there. We know that Google.com in the address bar can get there. But, sadly, Nielsen's study indicated that at least 24% of Internet users don't know that. It hurts me just to type it.
A quarter of Internet users said they wanted to search Google for something, but when placed in front of a computer, couldn't figure it out. "Instead, they either completely failed to get to any search engine or ended up running their query on a different search engine - usually whatever type-in field happened to be at hand."
Nielsen breaks this mind-boggling stat down for us:
On the one hand, 76% is a high success rate. On the other hand, getting to Google is a very simple task. It's not even a true task - that is, it's not something users want to accomplish for its own sake or something we'd pose as an assignment in user testing. Getting a Google search box is the first step in searching the Web, which is only the first step in doing something real (such as, in one of our test tasks, to find "a strong vacuum cleaner that is easy to use, can pick up pet hair, and costs under $300?).
Also, for this round of research we're deliberately recruiting above-average users, so the success rate across all Internet users is probably lower than our finding.
Suddenly, The Onion's article a few months back about " TheGoogle.com" doesn't look quite so funny:
All you have to do to turn the website on is put the little blinking line thing in the cyberspace window at the top of the screen, type 'thegoogle.com,' and press 'return'-although it will also recognize http.wwwthegoogle.com, google.aol, and 'THEGOOGLE' typed into a Word document."
Maybe there's a real need for remedial Internet...
Nielsen's overall point was to remind us all that our average user, and the web audience at large, doesn't understand the Internet the way we do. Unfortunately, I think the net effect of his findings will be lowered self-esteem among SEMs and a generalized funk to last over the next several days. (Exacerbated, of course, by your alma mater losing in the first round of the NCAAs. Again. Come on, I know I'm not the only one. I know you Drake fans are mad, too.)
via
Comments
About the Author:
Jordan McCollum is a staff writer for the popular marketing blog Marketing Pilgrim. She has worked in search engine optimization with clients including 3M, Little Giant Ladders and ADP. After graduating from Brigham Young University, Jordan joined the SEO copywriting team at the Internet marketing firm 10x Marketing. After 10x closed its doors in December 2006, Jordan became a freelance writer and Internet marketing consultant specializing in SEO. She also has extensive experience with web analytics, conversion rate enhancement and e-mail marketing. |
!
0 comments:
Post a Comment