Getting to Google is Hard

April 6, 2008

I was browsing around and noticed an interesting article by Nielsen which states that 1/4 of all users cannot do a Google search, here is part of the article:

How difficult is it to perform a search on Google?

I’m not talking about the challenge of formulating a good query, interpreting the results, or revising your search strategy to reap better results. Those are all very complicated research skills, and few people excel at them.

I’m talking only about the very first step in searching the Web: Getting to your favorite search engine so that you can run a search there.

Would you say this is easy or difficult? Think a bit before reading on.

If you thought it’s easy to get to Google, think again. In our current round of usability research, only 76% of users who expressed a desire to run a Google search were successful. In other words, 1/4 of users who wanted to use Google couldn’t do so. (Instead, they either completely failed to get to any search engine or ended up running their query on a different search engine — usually whatever type-in field happened to be at hand.)

On the one hand, 76% is a high success rate. On the other hand, getting to Google is a very simple task. It’s not even a true task — that is, it’s not something users want to accomplish for its own sake or something we’d pose as an assignment in user testing. Getting a Google search box is the first step in searching the Web, which is only the first step in doing something real (such as, in one of our test tasks, to find “a strong vacuum cleaner that is easy to use, can pick up pet hair, and costs under $300″).

Also, for this round of research we’re deliberately recruiting above-average users, so the success rate across all Internet users is probably lower than our finding. (Our goal is to discover usability guidelines for the sites people visit after they click through from the SERP, not to document search engine market shares. As a result, we’re not concerned with measuring this precisely.)

I doubt that any Web designer would be incapable of running a Google search. So, the fact that 1/4 of users can’t do it is a striking demonstration that you can’t rely on your own experience if you want to reach a broader audience.

Check out what people are saying about this:

believe it. Remember, most of the population did not grow up around computers, the internet, and/or are particularly “bright”

No different than if I heard 99% of people don’t know how to reset their VCR clocks from blinking 12:00 -
(oops, now I’m dating myself…what’s a VCR?)

I see this phenomena with my co-workers who are all in the IT field. They’re certainly not dumb, but with very few exceptions they aren’t Internet savvy either. I see them using Yahoo more than any other engine, or simply following links around to go to where they hope will have what they’re looking for. It is bizarre IMHO.

In my own stats I see folks who have actually typed in a lengthy and complete question when searching at Ask instead of the usual shortened query that most use elsewhere. I also see a lot of runtogetherwords as searches too.

That’s right I had this experience when a friend asked me to “search” for something that she was trying to find then my first search was in Google then she asked me what is Google? and why I was using Google and not Yahoo!? I was shocked about the question.

I believe it too..

just telling someone the other day how I could find phone numbers quicker through Google than using the yellow pages..

she said..”how do I get Google on my computer”

I asked how she searched, .. “Oh that box at the top the screen (meaning the address bar I suppose)”

and friends too use what BHO has installed itself or the toolbars their kids have downloaded, or their ISP portal page.

IMHO it is only the IT savvy, or folks into search or google itself - that know search engines are pages unto themselves

my wife told me just the other day that she has a hard time searching with Google. I don’t blame Google for that but it sure does make it easier to accept the numbers that Neilsen is touting.

I am amazed at how many users do not know about their address bar and simply type their desired URL into the the Google search box.

Having said that, I wonder how many bright souls are trying to get to Google by typing www.google.com into Google’s search box!

I believe this in a heartbeat. I know most of the folks for who I am the default “tech support” guy couldn’t get to Google without it being set as their home page. And of course, there’s my buddy who, to get to Y! mail, searches G for [yahoo] and clicks on the second result. It used to be the third result; when it changed I had a pretty difficult time explaining to him that results weren’t inviolate.

Tech support for family and friends can be wearisome at time, but the over-the-shoulder research opportunities are priceless.

“I have to connect to the Internet to use Google?”

Kids, right? If most adults are already online, the new people entering the fray are kids just old enough to use the internet. Who are maybe eight years old. Who could easily have difficulties figuring out Google.

Every day I still get searches like:

fast example.com

They tack on .com to the end of the search.

Parents need to spend a few moments teaching their kids. It only takes a few moments to explain Google and you’re set for life.