empty searchqueries in AOL data: error?

Discussion in 'All Other Search Engines' started by nikao, Aug 17, 2006.

  1. #1
    In my posting AOL Data Analysis - IV. Where do People Search For? I looked at the most used search queries in the AOL data.
    The result was that the most searched query was empty: over 1 million empty searches were in the data.

    I was curious for the fact whether people would click a result or make a real search. According to the data.. over 30% of the empty searches resulted in a click. !

    But the problem is, that it seems impossible to do an empty search and click a result, since an empty search doesn't return any results!!

    Any explanation for this?
     
    nikao, Aug 17, 2006 IP
  2. Michael

    Michael Raider

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    Is it possible that the empty searches are simply unrecorded searches that occur when the user clicks on a sponsored result rather than an organic one? There are normally more sponsored results on an AOL search page than organic ones.

    - Michael
     
    Michael, Aug 19, 2006 IP