Research round up stats & insights you can use: paid search?

July 20, 2005

eMarketer uncovers surprising news on user awareness of the difference between paid and unpaid search listings.

A Harris Interactive poll, sponsored by icrossing, found that many internet users are not familiar with the difference between organic search results and paid search results. And experience online didn't necessarily correlate with knowledge. Even among surfers with five or more years of online experience, most were not familiar with the difference between sponsored and natural results.

eMarketer aggregates, filters, organizes and analyzes data from more than 1700 research firms, consultancies and government agencies around the globe. Demographic Profile of US Adult Internet Users Who Are Familiar with the Difference between Sponsored * and Natural ** Search Engine Results Listings, April 2005 (as a % of respondents)

Yes No Gender Male 53% 47% Femail 34% 66% Age 18-34 47% 53% 35-44 45% 55% 45-54 42% 58% 55+ 38% 62% Experience onine <3 years 40% 60% 3-5 years 29% 71% 5+ years 47% 53% Search engine used at least 33% of the time Google 54% 46% Yahoo!/Overture 42% 58% MSN 36% 63% AOL 32% 68% Ask Jeeves 32% 68% Other 23% 77% Note: n=2,057 internet users ages 18+ who use search engines; * paid ** non-sponsored Source: Harris Interactive commissioned by icrossing, June 2005

By eMarketer