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Analyzing URL queries

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  • Wei Meng Lee
  • Mark Sanderson

Abstract

This study investigated a relatively unexamined query type, queries composed of URLs. The extent, variation, and user click‐through behavior was examined to determine the intent behind URL queries. The study made use of a search log from which URL queries were identified and selected for both qualitative and quantitative analyses. It was found that URL queries accounted for ∼17% of the sample. There were statistically significant differences between URL queries and non‐URL queries in the following attributes: mean query length; mean number of tokens per query; and mean number of clicks per query. Users issuing such queries clicked on fewer result list items higher up the ranking compared to non‐URL queries. Classification indicated that nearly 86% of queries were navigational in intent with informational and transactional queries representing about 7% of URL queries each. This is in contrast to past research that suggested that URL queries were 100% navigational. The conclusions of this study are that URL queries are relatively common and that simply returning the page that matches a user's URL is not an optimal strategy.

Suggested Citation

  • Wei Meng Lee & Mark Sanderson, 2010. "Analyzing URL queries," Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 61(11), pages 2300-2310, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jamist:v:61:y:2010:i:11:p:2300-2310
    DOI: 10.1002/asi.21407
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    Cited by:

    1. Anderl, Eva & Schumann, Jan Hendrik & Kunz, Werner, 2016. "Helping Firms Reduce Complexity in Multichannel Online Data: A New Taxonomy-Based Approach for Customer Journeys," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 92(2), pages 185-203.

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