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Brands Suffer From Search Dysfunctions
Excerpt:
"Visitors need and use search boxes because they have something specific in mind, and what they have in mind could mean business for your company.

Despite this vital fact, most sites have seemingly installed some standard, off-the-shelf, discount search function that brings up either tons of irrelevant results or, just as unhelpfully, no results at all. All this achieves is more confusion for the visitor.

What you're aiming to do is give your visitor a result. It's better that visitors can rely on getting some sort of useful result from using your search function rather than knowing they're likely to leave your site disappointed and frustrated. Negative outcomes reflect badly, not only on your site but also on your brand."

Search Engines: A Pew Internet Project Data Memo
Overview:
"The report, based on extensive research, surveys, and analysis, says that more than eight in ten American internet users have gone to search engines to find information on the Web. Further, more than one in four, or about 33 million adults, use a search engine on a daily basis.

Fully 85% of American internet users have used an online search engine to find information on the Web. Only sending or reading email outranks search-engine queries as an online activity."

Create User Loyalty by Improving Search Capability
Excerpt:
"Why do most B2B sites fail? Could part of the reason be that potential customers had trouble finding what they were looking for?

Forrester interviewed 50 e-commerce executives and found that 93 percent of their sites either didn't offer a site search at all or had engines on their sites that failed basic tasks. The absence of critical content and the fact that the most relevant data was buried at the bottom of the page were among the most critical failure points reported. Although 68 percent of those interviewed described a search capability as "extremely important" to their web site functionality, only 52 percent had measured how successful users were in searching for information on their site engines."

Study: Search Listings Better at Branding, Sales Than Banners
Excerpt:
"In unaided recall, the top three search listings outperformed banners and tiles by three to one. In addition, more than twice as many participants reported a favorable overall opinion of companies in the top three search positions than those featured in banners and tiles.