WebProNews

Users prefer to click on specialized content, including news, images and video when it appears in blended search results, according to a study sponsored by iProspect and conducted by JupiterResearch.

Google, Yahoo and MSN started offering blended search results for some user's searches in the past year. Before last year, users found specialized content through targeted vertical searches.

The study found that 36 percent of search engine users click "news" results within blended search results, while only 17 percent click a "news" result after conducting a news-specific search.

Thirty-one percent of search engine users click "image" results within blended search results, while 26 percent click an "image" result after doing an image-specific search. Additionally 17 percent of search engine users click "video" results within blended search results, while just 10 percent click a "video" result after conducting a video specific search.

Images are the most clicked type result after a vertical-specific search, news items are the most clicked type of result within blended search results.

Robert Murray - President
(Photo Credit: iProspect)

The study also found that users are less likely to click past the first page of search results, a growing trend backed up by past iProspect surveys. Sixty-eight percent of search engine users will click on the first page of search results, while 8 percent will review more than three pages of results before clicking on a result. Forty-nine percent of search engine users relaunch their search when they cannot find what they are looking for after reviewing the first page of search results.

"The bottom line is that companies that have optimized a variety of digital assets will have a distinct advantage," said Robert Murray, President, iProspect. "Those who lack such assets will essentially forfeit page real estate to their competitors."