Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Implications of User Engagement with
Universal Search Results
Jeremi Karnell, President, One to One Interactive
Dan Berlin, Sr. Research Associate, OTOinsights
www.OTOinsights.com 1

Agenda
1 Overview
2 Study Objectives
3 Universal Search & SEM
4 Methodology
5 Insights & Implications
www.OTOinsights.com 2

Neuromarketing Research | Usability
Quantemo
www.OTOinsights.com 3

Overview
• OTOinsights conducted a study to determine user behavior and
engagement with Universal search engine result pages (SERPs)
• Study included recording the users’ eye tracking, physiological &
emotional reactions, and click tracking
• We found that media (images, videos, etc) impact how a user
interacts with a SERP
www.OTOinsights.com 4

Study Objectives
• Compare user engagement with
Universal search results vs.
traditional text-only results
– Determine changes in user behavior
• Physiological, Eye gaze, and click pattern
– Indentify potential impact on SEM
campaigns
– Assess the viability of Universal search
becoming a prominent part of SERPs
– Gather preliminary data to inform a
formal, larger scale study
www.OTOinsights.com 5

Universal Search
• 72% of adults use search engines to
find Web sites (Forrester, 2008) Video and
Images
• 2007: Google and Yahoo add Universal
Search results
• Universal Search = inclusion of media News
in search results
• New generation of search optimization
transcends just text
• No Universal results in paid links… yet
www.OTOinsights.com 6

Search Engine Marketing
Search Engine Optimization – Natural Search
SEO • Relevance of content
• Keyword use in Title attribute
• Site architecture
• Link popularity
• anchor text & topical relevance
SEM • Domain age
Pay Per Click – Paid Search
• Bid
• Quality Score
PPC • Click Through Rate (CTR)
www.OTOinsights.com 7

Insights
SERPs which include Universal Search results reinforce eyeballs to
stay focused on the first page’s top paid and natural search results
The inclusion of Universal Search results increase emotional
engagement during interactions with a SERP
www.OTOinsights.com 8

Methodology
• 10 terms relevant to the
Natural Only Natural w/
cable industry were identified
Paid
• Four types of Google SERPs
were created for each of
these terms
– Natural Only; Natural w/ Paid
– Universal w/o Paid; Universal
w/ Paid
• 17 participants chose five
search terms
Universal Universal w/
• Participants were presented Only Paid
with a randomized SERP type
for each of the chosen terms
www.OTOinsights.com 9

Methodology
Each page What links would
presented for 1 1 4 you click on first
minute and second?
Fill out two surveys
Collect
• Geneva Emotion Wheel
physiological and 2 3 • Aesthetic Likert Scale
eye tracking data
www.OTOinsights.com 10

Methodology
Heart Rate ∆
Quantemo Quantemo
Breathing Rate ∆ Physiological Engagement
Index Index
Baseline Data
Geneva
Emotion
Wheel
Aesthetic
Likert
www.OTOinsights.com 11

Insight 1 - Overview
SERPs which include Universal Search results reinforce eyeballs to
stay focused on the first page’s top paid and natural search results
Universal w/ Paid Search First Fixation Universal w/ Paid Clicks
45% 12
% of participants
40%
39%
10
35%
# of clicks
8
30%
6 7 6
25% 22%
2 1st Click
20% 17% 4
1 1 2nd Click
15% 11% 2 4 2 1
3 3 3 3 2 1
10% 1 1 1
6% 6% 0
5%
0%
Top Paid Page Top Video 1st Link Right Paid 1st Picture
www.OTOinsights.com 12

Insight 1 - Details
Note the location of the video links:
• 1st fixation after the top of the page
• clicked more often than both the multilinks and the 2nd natural link
Universal w/ Paid Search First Fixation Universal w/ Paid Clicks
45% 12
% of participants
40%
39%
10
35%
# of clicks
8
30%
6 7 6
25% 22%
2 1st Click
20% 17% 4
1 1 2nd Click
15% 11% 2 4 2 1
3 3 3 3 2 1
10% 1 1 1
6% 6% 0
5%
0%
Top Paid Page Top Video 1st Link Right Paid 1st Picture
www.OTOinsights.com 13

Insight 1 - Details
Note the location of the image links:
• 1st fixation after the top of the page
• clicked more often than both the multilinks and the 2nd natural link
Universal First Fixations Universal Clicks
35% 20
% of participants
% of participants
30%
29% 18
16
25% 25% 14
8
25%
12
20% 10
8 1st Click
15% 13% 6 9 2
11 2nd Click
4
10% 8% 6 2 1
2
2 2 2 3 2
0
5%
0%
1st Link Page Top Image Multilinks Video
www.OTOinsights.com 14

Insight 1
• Heat maps show
30s of eye
tracking
• Natural w/ Paid
– F-shape
– More exploration
• Universal w/ Paid
– Golden Triangle
– Mostly above the
media
Natural w/ Paid Universal w/ Paid
www.OTOinsights.com 15

Insight 1 - Implications
The advent of Universal Search demands that companies optimize
not only their text, but also their media (images, videos, etc)
Image and video results may anchor users to stay at the top of the
SERP
www.OTOinsights.com 16

Insight 2 - Overview
The inclusion of Universal Search results increase emotional
engagement during interactions with a SERP
Quantemo™ Engagement Index
Higher 0.70
Engagement
0.60
Results had images and videos
0.50
0.44
0.40 0.37
0.30
0.20
0.10 0.07 0.08
Lower
Engagement 0.00
Natural Only Universal w/ Paid Universal Only Natural w/ Paid
www.OTOinsights.com 17

• Took ~50 fixations to get to the images
– (after the first fixation)
• Then spent 38 fixations on the images
First Fixation
Clustered on Pics
www.OTOinsights.com 18

Insight 2 - Implications
Higher engagement with Universal results may stop users from
exploring the rest of the SERP
Users will get an ‘instant gratification’ from images – perhaps more
so from branded images
www.OTOinsights.com 19

Overall Implications
• Create a holistic strategy which considers all search interactions to
increase user engagement
• Determine how digital assets can be leveraged to gain additional reach
into search engines
• Top paid results are the highest focal point and provide a great branding
opportunity
• High positions in natural and paid results will continue to be important
traffic from search engines
www.OTOinsights.com 20

Future Studies
• Does media in searches change users’ propensity to purchase?
• Does brand exposure on a SERP change users’ engagement and click
behavior?
• Do positional changes in non-text results impact users’ click propensity
and engagement?
www.OTOinsights.com 21

In Conclusion
Optimize your entire Web site, not just the text
This now includes media!
The evolution of Universal Search will impact how users interact
with SERPs – marketers and UX professionals must be prepared
www.OTOinsights.com 22