Brits don't understand search engines 16 Dec 2008

A UK survey published by FastHosts - and featured in The Guardian today - has revealed some misconceptions about how search engines work. The main findings are as follows:

"Nearly 1 in 4 Britons (24%) believe that the order of the search listings they use cannot be influenced by the publishers of websites listed, whilst a similar proportion (22%) suspect that results are ordered entirely according to how much has been paid by the websites listed. 1 in 5 consumers (19%) have no idea at all how results are compiled, and 5% believe that search listings are arranged completely at random like a lottery."

Interesting stuff - and yet another reminder of the dangers of overestimating the internet-literacy of the average user - although we do wonder if it actually matters whether users understand how search engines work or not. If the results are good, do users really care how they are produced?

Is it really important that they know that most search engines results' are influenced by website developers using semantic markup, SEO techniques and so forth?