This is exerpted from the INeedHits.com email newsletter. I didn't find it on their site to link to, so I'm reprinting it here.

How do search engine users decide which search results they click on?

Some interesting research on search behavior, which was undertaken by two different companies, has received media coverage in the past week. The research included surveys of several hundred to over 1,500 people as well as a small focus group. Here are the highlights of the iProspect research findings:

• 56 percent of the survey group stated that they used search engines at least once a day.
• Almost 38 percent of these daily users run searches four or more times a day.
• Close to 57 percent say that they have a favorite search engine they always tend to use. Google was on top of the favorites list.
• Only 17 percent of searchers look at more than three pages of search results before trying a different search.
• 23 percent stated that they would look at only the first few matches on the first page of search results before trying again.

Men appear to go further into the search results pages than women. 44 percent of women only looked at the first page of search results, compared to 37 percent of men. Both men and women preferred natural search results to paid listings, but women were more likely than men to click on paid listings.

In the Enquiro focus group research, it became apparent that search engine users clearly distinguish between paid and organic results. Most of the focus group members looked at the organic results first.

There were four distinct types of user behavior: people who scan the first few results and then click on one; people who have a first glance at the top few results and then look through more results more carefully; people who carefully read through all the results on the first page before clicking on one; and people who carefully start reading through the results from the top down, and click on the first one that appeals to them.

What does this mean to you? Being in the top results is vital - but depending on whether searchers scan or carefully read listings, your title and description tags can be perceived very differently.

The bottom line is: the higher your site ranks in organic search results, the better.