Modeling the Persuasive Effects of Search Engine Results

Abstract

Search engines have become a fundamental tool for destination marketing organizations in that they offer the primary means for a destination to “be seen” by a very large audience. Recent research argues that the compact advertisements provided by search engines represent the “first impression” one may receive of a destination and therefore, they act as the gateway to destination website. As such, the compact text represented in search engine results provides an important foundation for promotional strategies to market destinations on the Internet. This study examines the persuasive effect of textual search results on travelers’ perceptions of the relevance of organic search results. A simulated travel planning exercise was conducted by asking respondents to rank order organic textual search results in terms of the degree of relevance to their planning task. The results of the analysis clearly indicate that certain linguistic elements of the search results have significantly higher persuasive power than others, and therefore, provide the building blocks for developing more effective communication strategies.