No, says a new study from Northwestern University. In fact, they seem more impressed by a site's search ranking on Google than by pesky details like who wrote it, is it an unbiased source, or is it useful information. From the study's abstract:
First, it's another nail in the coffin for the "digital natives" meme. I dislike the term because it seems like a dressed up modern version of the "Those kids and their darn toys!" mentality. Not every Baby Boomer grew up to be a TV producer, so why assume every Millennial knows HTML and Java? Even worse, it becomes a hand-washing pass phrase that many use to absolve themselves of responsibility for understanding the latest digital technologies. It's possible that the net, email, and social media have little resonance with your target market segment, but that's more a reflection of the audience you serve than their age; odds are good that will still remain true even years after the "digital natives" take over the industry, and their habits will only transform because you offer them good, useful tools online.
Secondly, it underscores the importance of search in modern marketing campaigns. I did a search recently on a new client's company name, and they came up on the bottom of the first page. Beneath two university groups, an indie punk band, and some guy on LinkedIn with the same name. A search for their product category name did not include them at all. It is no coincidence their website traffic was way below target. Increasingly, people use Google as their first stop when looking for new products, inspiration, or help solving technical problems. Your webpresence needs to anticipate and facilitate searchability.
Finally, it is a reminder to be initially skeptical of anything you read online (including this blog, by the way; we occasionally make mistakes or show bias too). On the other side, as content producers it means we must be careful to act in a trustworthy, responsible manner. Sites that give bad information don't stay high in the rankings for long; they may claim the top spot for a few weeks, but then get burned by the wave of negative feedback and backlash. Providing consistently high-quality information may take longer to get results, but they will be more stable in the long run.
H/T ReadWriteWeb for the tip.
We find that the process by which users arrive at a site is an important component of how they judge the final destination. In particular, search context, branding and routines, and a reliance on those in one’s networks play important roles in online information-seeking and evaluation. We also discuss that users differ considerably in their skills when it comes to judging online content credibility.This is important for construction product marketing in three ways.
First, it's another nail in the coffin for the "digital natives" meme. I dislike the term because it seems like a dressed up modern version of the "Those kids and their darn toys!" mentality. Not every Baby Boomer grew up to be a TV producer, so why assume every Millennial knows HTML and Java? Even worse, it becomes a hand-washing pass phrase that many use to absolve themselves of responsibility for understanding the latest digital technologies. It's possible that the net, email, and social media have little resonance with your target market segment, but that's more a reflection of the audience you serve than their age; odds are good that will still remain true even years after the "digital natives" take over the industry, and their habits will only transform because you offer them good, useful tools online.
Secondly, it underscores the importance of search in modern marketing campaigns. I did a search recently on a new client's company name, and they came up on the bottom of the first page. Beneath two university groups, an indie punk band, and some guy on LinkedIn with the same name. A search for their product category name did not include them at all. It is no coincidence their website traffic was way below target. Increasingly, people use Google as their first stop when looking for new products, inspiration, or help solving technical problems. Your webpresence needs to anticipate and facilitate searchability.
Finally, it is a reminder to be initially skeptical of anything you read online (including this blog, by the way; we occasionally make mistakes or show bias too). On the other side, as content producers it means we must be careful to act in a trustworthy, responsible manner. Sites that give bad information don't stay high in the rankings for long; they may claim the top spot for a few weeks, but then get burned by the wave of negative feedback and backlash. Providing consistently high-quality information may take longer to get results, but they will be more stable in the long run.
H/T ReadWriteWeb for the tip.