Factors relating to the decision to click on a sponsored link

doi:10.1016/j.dss.2007.02.009

Decision Support Systems

Volume 44, Issue 1, November 2007, Pages 46-59

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dss.2007.02.009 Get rights and content

Abstract

In this paper, we report results of an investigation into the factors influencing the selection of sponsored links by e-commerce Web searchers. In this research, 56 participants each engaged in six e-commerce Web searching tasks. We mined these tasks from the transaction log of a major Web search engine, so the tasks represent real e-commerce searching information needs. Using 60 organic and 30 sponsored Web links retrieved by submitting these queries to the Google search engine, we controlled the quality of the Web search engine listings by switching non-sponsored and sponsored links on half of the tasks for each participant. This approach allowed for both investigating the bias toward sponsored links while controlling for quality of content. Data included 2453 interactions with result page links, 961 utterances evaluating these links, and 102 results from a post-study survey. The results of the data analysis indicate that there is a statistically significant preference for non-sponsored links with searchers viewing these results first more than 82% of the time. Searchers view sponsored links primarily as advertisements, appreciate these links if they are relevant, and are unconcerned if the search engines disclose them as sponsored links. The implications for sponsored links as a long-term business model are discussed.

Introduction

Modern Web search engines typically present at least two categories of search listings on the search engine results page. One set is the non-sponsored (i.e., organic) links that the search engine determines using its proprietary matching algorithm. The other set is the sponsored links that appear because a company, organization, or individual bid on the keyword(s) that the searcher used in the search query.

Sponsored search is the prevalent business model for search engines and many e-commerce sites on the Web. Most major Web search engines have adopted sponsored search almost universally, and some specific sites have begun using the sponsored search model. Google and Yahoo! each own independent processes that serve these sponsored links to Web searchers. The three major search engines, Google, Yahoo! and AOL reported that sponsored search accounted for 99%, 84% and 12% of annual revenues respectively [28].

Whether sponsored search is a viable long-term business model ultimately depends on whether or not Web searchers perceive the sponsored links as relevant. If the users of Web search engines consider the sponsored content relevant to their task, they might click on the sponsored links (i.e., thereby generating revenue for the search engine or specific Web site). If these links are not perceived as relevant, searchers will disregard them. There are billions of dollars across the search industry at stake depending on the answer to this question, along with the free Web searching that sponsored search supports. Certainly for the foreseeable future, sponsored search appears to be the principal revenue source for Web search engines.

This paper reports the results of a research study that investigates the interaction between searchers and sponsored links during Web searching, examining the relationship between searcher attitudes and behaviors toward both organic and sponsored Web search engine listings. We introduce our research design and data analysis. We then discuss our research results and implications, concluding with directions for future research.

Section snippets

Literature review

Web search engines such as Yahoo! and Google have significantly altered online commerce. The unique characteristics of the Web for e-commerce and online retailing are fundamentally transforming the way in which consumers and vendors interact. Pachauri [29] presents a review of e-commerce streams of research and highlights future research questions for this on-going transformation. However, the effect of Web search engines is not confined to the algorithm listings (i.e., organic listings)

Research questions

We implemented a user study to address the following research questions. For this research, we refer to a “link” as a listing in the results listing in the SERP. We refer to a “result” as the actual Web document referenced by a link in the SERP. Certainly, the searching skill [16], the domain knowledge, and the contextual aspects of the searcher have impact on how Web search engine results are evaluated. However, extensive research shows that Web search is fairly consistent across search

Data preparation

To investigate our research questions, we extracted a set of e-commerce queries from an approximately 1 million query transaction log from Excite [31], [32] using a modified snowball technique [30]. We believed that it is important that the queries represent real queries from real Web search engine users with real needs. From this set of e-commerce queries, we selected six queries representing three categories of e-commerce query types:

•
general (i.e., queries representing a desire for

Results

The objective of the study was to evaluate the differences in participant behavior with organic and sponsored listings, along with the bases for these differences in action. We anticipated that participants would be biased against sponsored listings and thus would be more likely to view and select the organic listings and rate them as being more relevant. The results were not uniform in this regard based on analysis of Research question 01.

Discussion

We conducted a controlled study and survey investigating searcher biases toward sponsored links, controlling for content between the sponsored and non-sponsored links. For sponsored search to yield the financial returns that the business community and Web search engines anticipate in the coming years, it is critical that consumers perceive sponsored links and their descriptions as relevant to their transactional tasks. Unfortunately, the results of this study support some previous findings from

Conclusion and future research

In general, the results indicate that searchers do have a bias against sponsored links, even when controlled for content. However, when they view the content Web pages of sponsored links, searchers evaluate the sponsored Web pages just as relevant as the pages of the organic links. The mechanism through which sponsored links are selected for a search query is as effective at selecting sponsored Web sites as it is with selecting organic Web sites. Search engines need to leverage this

Jim Jansen is an assistant professor at the College of Information Sciences and Technology at The Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Jansen has nearly 100 publications in the area of information technology and systems, with articles appearing in the Communications of the ACM, IEEE Computer, ACM Transactions on Information Systems, Information Processing & Management, and Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, among others. He has received several awards and

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Anna Brown is a student at The Pennsylvania State University pursuing concurrent majors in Supply Chain Management from the Smeal College of Business and Information Sciences and Technology from the College of Information Sciences and Technology (IST), along with a minor in Accounting. She is active in a variety of student activities. She is currently the student director of the First Year Seminar in the College of IST. She is also directing a pilot student Quality Management Program in the Smeal College of Business. Her areas of research include online searcher motivations, learner motivations, as well as quality management methodologies and processes. She is a nominee for the 2007 Undergraduate Research Award in the College of IST for her work with online searcher motivations.

Marc Resnick is an associate professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the Florida International University in Miami, FL. He is also the Director of FIU's Institute for Technology Innovation. His research focuses on how people interact with technology in the complex environments that describe most real life situations. His work combines cognitive science, usability engineering, performance management, and business strategy. He has published over one hundred articles in peer reviewed journals and conference proceedings. He is with the Board of Trustees of the Institute of Industrial Engineers and with the Technical Program Committee of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.

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Factors relating to the decision to click on a sponsored link

Abstract

Introduction

Section snippets

Literature review

Research questions

Data preparation

Results

Discussion

Conclusion and future research

The Search: How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture

The Atlas Rank Report I: How Search Engine Rank Impacts Traffic, 2004

The Atlas Rank Report Ii: How Search Engine Rank Impacts Conversions, 2005

Internet 2.0 the Next Level of the Ultimate Customer-Based Tool, 1to1 Magazine, 2005

Sponsored search: a brief history

Bulletin of the American Society for Information Science and Technology

Search Engine Users, 2005

Paid placement strategy for internet search engines

Searching for Balance, 2004

Ftc Wants Paid Search to Shape Up, 2005

Inside the Mind of the Searcher, 2005

Enquiro Eye Tracking Report I: Google, 2005

Enquiro Eye Tracking Report Ii: Google, Msn and Yahoo! Comparedenquiro Eye Tracking Report Ii: Google, Msn and Yahoo! Compared, 2006

Search Engine Usage in North America, 2005

Defining the Web: the politics of search engines

IEEE Computer

Search Engine User Attitudes, 2005