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A lot of Brits don't understand search engines

The Guardian Online [published 12th dec 2008]

A UK survey published by FastHosts has revealed some misconceptions about how search engines work. Whether this matters to users, as opposed to website promoters, is less clear

Almost all of us use search engines, but most Britons "either have no idea or an inaccurate view of how online search results are determined," according to the Online Search Matters Survey produced for FastHosts, the Web hosting company. The main findings are:

Nearly 1 in 4 Britons (24%) believe that the order of the search listings they use cannot be influenced by the publishers of websites listed, whilst a similar proportion (22%) suspect that results are ordered entirely according to how much has been paid by the websites listed. 1 in 5 consumers (19%) have no idea at all how results are compiled, and 5% believe that search listings are arranged completely at random like a lottery.

To be clear: the major search engines do not charge for listings, but their results are influenced by Web site publishers, partly through the use of SEO (search engine optimisation) techniques.

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