NEW SURVEY REVEALS THAT TOP SEARCH ENGINE MATCHES EQUAL TOP BRAND STATUS FOR MANY U.S. ONLINE USERS
33% of Internet Users Believe Companies Found in Top Search Results Must Be a Major Brand -- Indicating That Top Rankings
Transmit Brand Equity
ARLINGTON, Mass., July 29, 2002 - iProspect®, the Original® Search
Engine Marketing Firm, today published survey results showing
that major brands of leading companies that do not use search engine positioning to propel their sites to top search engine results
fail to meet the expectations of a majority of America's 175 million Internet users. The majority (56%) of consumers surveyed expect
leading brands to hold top search listings. When Web marketers do not make search engines the primary focus of their online marketing
initiatives, they are forfeiting "top-of-mind" brand position to lesser-known organizations on the medium most frequently utilized by
consumers for finding Web sites.
Survey respondents were asked, "If you spotted a company within the opening few lines of search results, would that make you think
that the company was a top one in the field?" Fully 33% of the respondents indicated they would. "This was the biggest surprise in the
survey. Our hypothesis was that people could tell the difference between a major brand and a lesser-known company, product or service
that happened to enjoy a top ranking," said Dr. Amanda Watlington, iProspect's Director of Research. "What this indicates is that being
found in a top search engine match transmits a halo effect of sorts. We can infer by this response that a large number of search engine
users will assign brand value or equity to a top ranked Web site, disregarding the fact that the search engine's mathematical algorithm
is the cause. This demonstrates, especially for new Internet users, that top search engine listings transmit brand equity. Based on
these results, lesser-known brands, or perhaps resellers of these branded products, can increase their perceived brand equity with
search engine users by being found in the top search matches."
An unexpected twist in the findings was discovered when the data was segmented by the respondent's Web experience. While 55% of all
survey respondents expect major brands to show up in the top search results, Internet users who had been online less than six months
had the greatest expectation, with over 65% indicating that they expect to find major brands in the top spots. However, the longer the
user has been using the Internet, the more disaffected they become. Respondents who had been online six or more years were three times
less likely to expect to find the major brands in the top search results. "The increase in Web experience will slowly erode existing
brands unless they engage in aggressive search engine positioning. When a search engine query is launched, there are only two possible
outcomes for marketers: your Web site will be displayed to the searcher, or your competitor's will - whether you think of them as your
competitor or not," said Watlington. "Brand managers risk diluting their brand equity if they fail to meet the expectations of Internet
users and repeatedly allow other entities to be displayed to these search engine users."
Fredrick Marckini, CEO of iProspect, added, "As the use of search engines and the Web continue to grow, brand and product managers
must concentrate on achieving top search engine rankings. The survey results show a clear and compelling correlation between search
engine positioning and brand equity. Marketers should use the power of search engines not only for customer acquisition, but branding
as well."
About the Survey:
The iProspect survey was conceived by Dr. Amanda Watlington, Ph.D., Director of Research of iProspect and Fredrick Marckini, CEO/CTO
of iProspect and author of the book, Search Engine
Positioning (WordWare 2001). Completed in late May of 2002, there were 1,403 survey respondents. The iProspect survey
was fielded by former Presidential Pollster, Dick Morris of Dick Morris Associates and Vote.com in New York City. The white paper from
this survey titled, "Marketing Tactics of Big Brands Not Meeting Web User Expectations" including all findings and analysis, was
compiled and analyzed by iProspect. Proper attribution requires that the survey is clearly identified as "The iProspect Search Engine
Branding Survey."
Questions regarding this release should be directed to iProspect Media Relations
Manager, Colleen Reed, at 1–800–522–1152 x1203 or
colleen.reed@iprospect.com.
