Aaron - very interesting question on that piece of the survey. Google appears to keep any data on "abandoned" searches very close to the vest. I did find two studies that looked pretty good, check out the section about halfway down in my posting here, the section called "How many Searches are “abandoned”?
http://www.coconutheadphones.com/estimating-organic-search-opportunity-p...
Search Again or Click On the Second Page of Search Results?
If you use a search engine but don't find what you are looking for, which are you more likely to do?
People are more likely to search again with a new keyword than they are to click onto the second page of search results.
| Vote | All (1189) |
|---|---|
| search again with a different word | 55.7% (+3.2 / -3.3) |
| go to the second page of the results | 44.3% (+3.3 / -3.2) |
The split is fairly consistent among men and women.
| Vote | Men (651) | Women (538) |
|---|---|---|
| search again with a different word | 55.4% (+4.0 / -4.1) | 56.1% (+5.0 / -5.1) |
| go to the second page of the results | 44.6% (+4.1 / -4.0) | 43.9% (+5.1 / -5.0) |
There isn't an obvious pattern among age either.
| Vote | 18-24 year-olds (284) | 25-34 year-olds (309) | 35-44 year-olds (144) | 45-54 year-olds (195) | 55-64 year-olds (150) | 65+ year-olds (107) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| search again with a different word | 52.1% (+5.7 / -5.8) | 56.7% (+5.7 / -5.9) | 51.7% (+8.0 / -8.1) | 57.5% (+6.7 / -7.0) | 61.4% (+7.7 / -8.4) | 54.2% (+9.4 / -9.8) |
| go to the second page of the results | 47.9% (+5.8 / -5.7) | 43.3% (+5.9 / -5.7) | 48.3% (+8.1 / -8.0) | 42.5% (+7.0 / -6.7) | 38.6% (+8.4 / -7.7) | 45.8% (+9.8 / -9.4) |
People in the west & midwest are more likely to change keywords, whereas people in the north east & south are roughly equally likely to change keywords or go to page 2 of the search results.
| Vote | The US Midwest (244) | The US Northeast (320) | The US South (363) | The US West (262) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| search again with a different word | 58.6% (+6.6 / -6.9) | 52.2% (+6.3 / -6.4) | 51.7% (+6.0 / -6.1) | 61.8% (+6.2 / -6.6) |
| go to the second page of the results | 41.4% (+6.9 / -6.6) | 47.8% (+6.4 / -6.3) | 48.3% (+6.1 / -6.0) | 38.2% (+6.6 / -6.2) |
Suburban people are more likely to change keywords than to click on to page 2.
| Vote | Urban areas (590) | Rural areas (109) | Suburban areas (468) |
|---|---|---|---|
| search again with a different word | 51.8% (+4.6 / -4.6) | 48.0% (+9.3 / -9.1) | 61.1% (+4.8 / -5.0) |
| go to the second page of the results | 48.2% (+4.6 / -4.6) | 52.0% (+9.1 / -9.3) | 38.9% (+5.0 / -4.8) |
There isn't much of an income correlation either.
| Vote | People earning $0-24K (123) | People earning $25-49K (638) | People earning $50-74K (319) | People earning $75-99K (88) | People earning $100-149K (22) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| search again with a different word | 57.9% (+9.3 / -9.9) | 55.9% (+4.4 / -4.5) | 58.8% (+5.8 / -6.1) | 54.5% (+9.3 / -9.6) | 50.0% (+21.4 / -21.4) |
| go to the second page of the results | 42.1% (+9.9 / -9.3) | 44.1% (+4.5 / -4.4) | 41.2% (+6.1 / -5.8) | 45.5% (+9.6 / -9.3) | 50.0% (+21.4 / -21.4) |
It would also be interesting to run this question again & include the option of trying another search engine as an answer.
Published: April 15, 2012
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