In "When Search Engines Become Answer Engines," Jakob Nielsen discusses how to profit from users who use websites to get information, rather than use it to benefit your company. This is important to me because it will help me know how to direct traffic, if you will, on my future site. That is, getting an idea of how to suck people into my site, without having them freeload, but actually get some use from them.
When Jakob Nielsen asked users why they used the internet, they all said something different. The one consistent answer was that a search engine was one of the top three sites that they used most often. That being said, it is easy to understand how search engines are becoming answer engines. People search for answers, and that is what they expect to get.
Instead of searching for good sites, users use search engines to find "specific pages related to specific needs" without regards to the page supplier.
Ask Jeeves is the pioneer in the field of answering users questions using search engines using a Q&A format.
Information foraging theory states that the easier it is to find a resource, the shorter amount of time will be spent on that resource. It is easier to find a new page with information than it is to bookmark a page due to the "despicably weak support for favorites" by browsers.
For search engines, it is good news to be the most relied upon source of finding info on the web. For users it is good also. For websites, not so good. There is not much value in giving information to people who don't care where the info came from or who supplied it.
Ecommerce sites are a little different, because they can actually get a sale from someone stopping in for some info. It can be an advantage for ecommerce sites. It would be silly for them to deny access to a site except through the homepage. Barriers to customers equals lost sales.
Here are some tips to help maximize your website:
They are not worth the cost to detect and repel.
3 tips:
Remember, recognizing users' needs and adapting to fit them is always the best way to make you site work well.