Navigational behaviour and sponsored search advertising
Nico Brooks, Harrison Magun · International Journal of Electronic Business · 2008
Navigational use of search engines has been identified as behaviour distinct from information seeking and is apparently on the rise. Navigational behaviour is of particular interest to search engine marketers, since navigational activity indicates prior intent to visit a website, possibly influenced by other advertising investments. In this paper, we describe research investigating navigational characteristics found in sponsored search click log data. In particular, we look at sponsored search clicks resulting from brand name searches, URL searches and repeat visit activity. We further discuss the implications of navigational behaviour for sponsored search advertisers and outline the need for improved methods of tracking the performance of online advertising investments.