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Brand and its effect on user perception of search engine performance

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  • Bernard J. Jansen
  • Mimi Zhang
  • Carsten D. Schultz

Abstract

In this research we investigate the effect of search engine brand on the evaluation of searching performance. Our research is motivated by the large amount of search traffic directed to a handful of Web search engines, even though many have similar interfaces and performance. We conducted a laboratory experiment with 32 participants using a 42 factorial design confounded in four blocks to measure the effect of four search engine brands (Google, MSN, Yahoo!, and a locally developed search engine) while controlling for the quality and presentation of search engine results. We found brand indeed played a role in the searching process. Brand effect varied in different domains. Users seemed to place a high degree of trust in major search engine brands; however, they were more engaged in the searching process when using lesser‐known search engines. It appears that branding affects overall Web search at four stages: (a) search engine selection, (b) search engine results page evaluation, (c) individual link evaluation, and (d) evaluation of the landing page. We discuss the implications for search engine marketing and the design of empirical studies measuring search engine performance.

Suggested Citation

  • Bernard J. Jansen & Mimi Zhang & Carsten D. Schultz, 2009. "Brand and its effect on user perception of search engine performance," Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 60(8), pages 1572-1595, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jamist:v:60:y:2009:i:8:p:1572-1595
    DOI: 10.1002/asi.21081
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    Cited by:

    1. Ingo Knuth & Janina Masuhr, 2023. "Decision Drivers for Search Engine Usage – The Mediating and Moderating Role of Lock-in Effects," International Journal of Business and Management, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 16(10), pages 1-86, February.
    2. Dirk Lewandowski, 2015. "Evaluating the retrieval effectiveness of web search engines using a representative query sample," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 66(9), pages 1763-1775, September.
    3. Ologunebi, John & Taiwo, Ebenezer, 2023. "The Importance of SEO and SEM in improving brand visibility in E-commerce industry; A study of Decathlon, Amazon and ASOS," MPRA Paper 119205, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Greg Taylor, 2013. "Search Quality and Revenue Cannibalization by Competing Search Engines," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(3), pages 445-467, September.

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