How Search Engine Marketing Influences User Knowledge Gain
Development and Empirical Testing of an Information Search Behavior Model
The Quality Paradox
People rely on search engines to curate information, usually clicking the top results. Content providers use Search Engine Marketing (SEM) to secure these spots.
Representational Quality: SEM ensures professionally designed and concise content.
Intrinsic Quality: Commercial motives can impact intrinsic quality, such as objectivity.
Central Question
“To what extent do SEM-driven pages differ in quality, and how does this impact user knowledge gain?”
The Research Model
01. Survey
Quota sample of 2,403 German Internet users conducting specific search tasks to analyze their knowledge gain.
02. Evaluation
Experts assessed results based on intrinsic and representational quality.
03. Modeling
Structural equation modeling tested the relationships between SEM and user knowledge gain.
Core Results
Organic is Best
High intrinsic quality in organic results leads to better knowledge gain.
Ad Limitations
Paid ads are associated with lower-quality content for learning purposes.
Literacy Matters
High search engine literacy helps users identify better content.
Publications
Schultheiß, S. (2023). How search engine marketing influences user knowledge gain: Development and empirical testing of an information search behavior model. ACM SIGIR Conference on Human Information Interaction and Retrieval (CHIIR ’23), March 19–23, 2023, Austin, TX, USA. https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3576840.3578297
Project Details
Author
Sebastian Schultheiß
Supervisors
Vivien Petras ,
Dirk Lewandowski ,
Ian Ruthven
In cooperation with
Humboldt University of Berlin
Duration
2022–2025
Grade
Summa cum laude
Affiliated with project
SEO Effect