A representative online survey among German search engine users with a focus on questions regarding search engine optimization (SEO) : a study within the SEO Effect project ; SEO-Effekt Working Paper 2

Abstract

This working paper describes the representative online survey within the research project SEO-Effekt. To incorporate the perspective of search engine users, we conducted a representative online survey with N=2,012 German internet users. The survey focused on search engine optimization (SEO), but also included questions about paid search marketing (PSM), usage behavior, self-assessment, trust in search engines, and personalization. We found that SEO is much less known to internet users than PSM and that the level of knowledge and the opinions about SEO are correlated with the user’s education and their affinity to SEO topics. Furthermore, users expressed a high self-assessment of their search engine literacy, a slightly positive view on the trustworthiness of search engines and a rather negative attitude towards personalization. Future research is promising in (1) an annual repetition of the online survey and (2) in a realization of the survey in other (European) countries.