Major Study Released on Search Behavior

A rather suprising study of online user search behavior and page ranking from the Proceedings for the National Academy of Sciences' debunks criticism that high visibility web sites receive preferential treatment over other keyword competitors in organic search results.

The bottom line: There is no evidence that web sites like Yahoo or MySpace are more prominently featured in keyword searches on Google, MSN and other popular search engines.

Of course, they have a significant advantage in visibility for paid search placements, like AdWords, because they have the money to pay the highest price for a number of marketing approaches.

View the full report for $10 or downloaded it for $25, which I say is a hefty price for a "non profit" organization, but search enthusiasts and executives will probably find it worth the investment to review the entire report.