Sometimes the mind boggles. It really does boggle. This time new research from web hosting firm Fasthosts, which concludes that, well, end users are morons. It found that 19 per cent have no idea at all how search results are compiled, and five per cent believe that listings are arranged completely at random like a lottery.

But before you tear up your search engine optimisation (SEO) strategy, all hope is not lost. Good SEO, it seems, could still bring your firm some kind of reward. Although 1 in 4 respondents thought that the order of search listings cannot be influenced by the publishers of any web sites listed, 38 per cent said they choose to ignore sponsored links. Interestingly, those in Norwich and surrounding areas are particularly skeptical about these new-fangled sponsored listings malarkies.

16 Dec 2008