Why Search Engines Matter

Researchers have estimated that the Web contains more than 13 billion pages. If you count the deep web (such as pages generated by databases and hidden pages), that estimate can shoot up to 550 billion or more. Even our own little corner of the Web, the BU Web, contains more than 400,000 pages. That's a lot of pages.

For most users of the Web, search engines provide the primary means of navigating the information deluge. The Pew Internet Project (June, 2004) found the following statistics for Web searching:

• Searching is one of the most popular activities online (second only to email and, when major stories are breaking, reading news).
• The average Internet user performs 33 searches each month.
• The average visit to a search engine resulted in 4.4 searches.
• The average visitor scrolled through 1.8 pages of results.

The bottom line: If you want someone to find your site, search engines matter.

You can learn more about what drives traffic to your site by looking at the monthly site reports generated by Networked Information Services.