People don’t know how to search: Simon, a commenter on the preceding post, links to a page on Askthebrain.com that will allow you to see what the AOL search data reveals about search terms that lead to specific websites. On the page, click on a URL to see which terms lead there. For example, what are the search terms that lead people to Google the most? That would be “google” and “google.com.” Indeed, over 250,000 of AOL searches are for the search term “google.” Also, note how this pattern repeats itself on nearly every example of a website result: The number one search term is the URL without the .com and the number two search term is the URL with the .com. In other words, it appears that alot of people type in a URL into the search box on their browser instead of into the navigation field of their browser when they are looking for a specific website. (I’m going to have to admit to some ignorance here, as I don’t use the AOL service where this came from — perhaps this is a commentary on the confusing nature of the tool instead of the user.) However, if this is a practice that users of other browsers exhibit, it explains why the current Pontiac TV ads instruct viewers to find the Pontiac website by typing in the word “Pontiac” on Google, rather than by promoting their URL. No matter what, it seems to suggest there are lots of people out there who don’t know where to type in a URL on their browser, even if they know it. To help AOL users and others with some basics of how to search, I created this (p.s., after typing in the URL, hit return. Also, a “URL” is the web address, like rexblog.com):
