• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, September 30, 2018

Google turned 20 in September, and not all consumers are comfortable with the way they conduct a search and their knowledge of the process.

The survey, What Consumers Know About Search -- from iQuanti in partnership with Poltio.com -- asked 279 respondents to share their knowledge about how search engines work and their ability to use them. There were 8 multiple choice questions.

Some 40% are very comfortable with how a search engine works, followed by 30% who said they are somewhat comfortable. About 19% said they are comfortable, while 8% said they are a little comfortable and 4% said they are not comfortable at all.

It appears that men at 43% are very comfortable, compared with females at 39%.  

Ironically, women rate their ability to conduct a search higher than men, at 63% versus 58%, respectively.

Some six out of 10 people rate their ability to conduct a search as five out of five, meaning that 61% feel they adequately can conduct a search.

56% of people are somewhat satisfied with their search experience, 37% are very satisfied, 6% are neither satisfied nor dissatisfied, and 1% are dissatisfied.

When asked to state the reason for seeing specific search results in a query, 50% think everyone gets the same results, 26% believe the results are paid for by brands, and 24% think the results are based on what they searched for in the past.

About 36% of respondents said they frequently engage with the search engine beyond the first few results, 35% said they do occasionally, 10% said rarely, another 10% said very rarely, and 9% cited always.

Searching for something specific not on the first page was the top reason for looking past the first page at 61%, followed by curiosity at 16%. About 15% said they look past the first page when the first-page results are irrelevant, compared with the 8% who said they never look past the first page.