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When it comes to using the internet today, the sheer variety of ways in which we can use it can be quite staggering. When you are unsure of what you are doing, though, it’s fairly easy to get carried away. While those of an older demographic might stick to a basic website search via a search engine, younger people tend to be a touch more ambitious with how they search.
It’s not just what they are searching for, though; it’s how they utilise the search functions of the web to their advantage. How, then, are the young people of today navigating the complex web of the internet?
Social media has changed the game
In the past, it has been reported that younger people are spending more and more time on the web. Indeed in 2009 – arguably before the mainstream rise of social media in full – young people aged 8-18 were spending on average 7 ½ hours per day online. That is changing, though; children are actually spending less time online than their adult counterparts.
Indeed, reports in the past have shown that those aged 8-18 can spend around 25 hours per month online. Adults, by contrast, could be spending as much as 40 hours per month on the web. Every SEO Agency should take note.
It’s how we search, too
One other factor is that those of an older demographic are likely to search by using a genuine URL as their query. So, if someone was to look around for ‘free games online’, they might look for a gaming website they have used in the past by looking up its URL.
Marketing tactics need to change because youngsters, meanwhile, are far more likely to ask a direct question. Queries and questions are commonplace as young people tend to see their internet queries as like asking a friend a question. While older demographics still treat it like talking to a machine, others are less likely to be so dismissive of what a machine could bring to the table. They talk to it as if it were a person, changing the nature of how a query is made.
Young people look for value and relevance
While most older searches are simply looking for a answer, younger searchers tend to look for the answer. They will look not only for the best place to buy product A, but also look for the best – if not free – way to get it. Older users may be more wary of clicking on a dangerous link or being scammed in some capacity; young internet users are more likely to just try it out and face the consequences.
Indeed, the word ‘free’ is the most common follow-up keyword used in searches by young people. At least we know the next generation are already being more frugal and financially conscious than those who have come before them.
While many see the search for all information online as being fruitless, it’s fair to say that young people are using the internet ins a very different way to those who came before them. As the internet continues to offer us even more power during our searches, we can only expect this to grow and change further as time goes on.
