WebProNews

The NYT has a short and sweet piece on how online shoppers conduct their searches.

Most prepurchase searches use only generic terms, like "hard drive." Consumers tend to make these searches early on, and then conduct a small flurry of brand-name queries right before buying

At Fortune Interactive, we're heavily focused on the different stages of an online buying cycle, so this story is a nice reminder for everyone focusing purely on the buy-stage words.

Also important to remember that once the online research is completed, most buyers don't immediately make a purchase. They could come back to a site weeks later or even make their purchase at a physical store.

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Andy Beal is an internet marketing consultant and considered one of the world's most respected and interactive search engine marketing experts. Andy has worked with many Fortune 1000 companies such as Motorola, CitiFinancial, Lowes, Alaska Air, DeWALT, NBC and Experian.

You can read his internet marketing blog at Marketing Pilgrim and reach him at andy.beal@gmail.com.