The study was conducted by Jupiter Research and iProspect, a search engine marketing firm. It surveyed 2,369 people from an online consumer panel. Jupiter and iProspect have released several other interesting findings:

• At most, people will go through three pages of results before giving up.

• One-third of users linked companies in the first page of results with top brands.

• 62% of those surveyed clicked on a result on the first page, up from 48% in 2002.

• About 90% of consumers clicked on a link in these pages, up from 81% in 2002.

• 41% of consumers changed engines or their search term if they did not find what they were searching for on the first page.

The study points to the importance of internet marketing, which allows an organization to be among the top matches for its search terms. Robert Murray, president of iProspect, says, "It's time that companies that are refreshing, re-designing, or launching a new website start with the end in mind. If no one can find it, no one will use it."

Fortunately for our users, PoliticsOnline is the first site that appears when a Google user does a search for "politics online".

BBC, "Search Users 'Stop at Page Three'"