Study: Top Reason A User Would Block A Site From A Search? Too Many Ads

An online survey examining SEO assumptions by SurveyMonkey found that the No. 1 reason users would block a website from their search results was if the website contained too many ads.

If given an option to remove a website from future search results, 68 percent of the respondents said they would block a website because it had too many ads, while 60 percent claimed they would block a site because of poor quality content. Respondents were more forgiving of typos and grammar mistakes, with 26 percent claiming to block a website with typos and only 23 percent blocking a website containing bad grammar.

When respondents were asked what they would do if a Google search result did not contain the expected information, 34 percent of respondents said they would return to the search results page and try a different result; 25 percent said they would return to Google to enter a new search.

The online survey was conducted using SurveyMonkey’s Audience tool, surveying 615 respondents from a random selection of males and females age 18 to 60. The participants were located across the country with annual household incomes ranging from $25,000 to $150,000+ and varying education levels.

Other key findings from the survey demonstrated most users are not bothered by how recently an online article was published – trusting content published two years ago the same as content published ten days ago – but were less likely to trust an article with a number of typos and obvious grammar mistakes. The survey also concluded that users preferred Google search results over Bing.