Behavior of Web Searchers Katie Greenstreet Computer Science 49S Duke Spring 2007

What are We Searching For? What would you guess the most popular search engine queries are? For what purpose do you most often use Google or other search engines?

A Taxonomy of Web Search Information retrieval is based on the idea that the user is searching for information Why then do informational queries constitute less than 50% of web searches? What is considered the “classic model” of information retrieval?

A Taxonomy of Web Search: Queries 3 Classes of Web Queries –Navigational –Informational –Transactional

A Taxonomy of Web Search: Navigational Immediate intent is to reach a particular site that the user has in mind, either because they have visited it in the past or because they assume the site exists? Usually only have one “right” result Examples? –Greyhound Bus: –Compaq: –National car rental:

A Taxonomy of Web Search: Informational The intent is to acquire some information assumed to be present on one or more web pages Purpose is to find info in static form Examples? –Song lyrics –Movie quotes –Class research

A Taxonomy of Web Search: Transactional The intent is to perform some web mediated activity Examples? –Shopping –Downloading music –Accessing data-bases –Finding servers

A Taxonomy of Web Search: Statistics Log analysis showed that of the queries examined… –20% were navigational –48% were informational –30% were transactional

A Taxonomy of Web Search: The Evolution of Search Engines First Generation –On page data –Mostly works for informational queries Second Generation –Link analysis, anchor-text, click-through data Third Generation –Attempts to blend data from multiple sources to answer the “need behind the query”

The Search: Chapter 2 Battelle attempts to answer six questions about search –How? –Who? –What? –Where? –When? –How much?

The Search: Who? 85% of internet users use search 2/3s of those search once or twice a week Demographics –Younger generations –More highly educated

The Search: What? Popular Queries –Sex –Mp3 –Britney Spears Vanity Searching

The Search: What? This week’s Zeitgiest –Hilary Clinton –Oscar nominations –Jacksonville Jaguars –Coachella –Indianapolis Colts –State of the Union –Frilled shark –Chicago Bears –Ron Carey –Australian Open

The Search: Where? 85% use one of the big four portals: Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, AOL Most searches take place outside of the US

The Search: Why? “a means to an end” Discovery searching

The Search: When? At home as well as at work Traffic increases in the morning, peaks in the evening Idea of web search has roots in the Dewey Decimal System SMART TREC

The Search: How Much? Search has translated into a major business opportunity How do search engines make money? –Business leads –Paid ads –Behavioral targeting –Demographic analysis