chemistry

Organic search results

Organic search results is a chemistry topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Organic search results rather than just read about it. In short: In web search engines, organic search results are the query results which are calculated strictly algorithmically, and not affected by advertiser payments. They are distinguished from various kinds of sponsored results, whether they are explicit pay-per-click advertisements, shopping results, or other results where the search engine is paid either for showing the result, or for clicks on the result.

Key takeaways

Organic search results belongs to chemistry; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Organic search results to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Organic search results from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

In web search engines, organic search results are the query results which are calculated strictly algorithmically, and not affected by advertiser payments. They are distinguished from various kinds of sponsored results, whether they are explicit pay-per-click advertisements, shopping results, or other results where the search engine is paid either for showing the result, or for clicks on the result.

Background The Google, Yahoo!, Bing, and Sogou search engines insert advertising on their search results pages. In U.S. law, advertising must be distinguished from organic results. This is done with various differences in background, text, link colors, and/or placement on the page. However, a 2004 survey found that a majority of search engine users could not distinguish the two. Because so few ordinary users realized that many of the highest placed "results" on search engine results pages (SERPs) were ads, the search engine optimization industry began to distinguish between ads and natural results. The perspective among general users was that all results were, in fact, "results." So the qualifier "organic" was invented to distinguish non-ad search results from ads. It has been used since at least 2004. Because the distinction is important (and because the word "organic" has many metaphorical uses) the term is now in widespread use within the search engine optimization and web marketing industry. As of July 2009, the term "organic search" is now commonly used outside the specialist web marketing industry, even used frequently by Google (throughout the Google Analytics site, for instance). Google claims their users click (organic) search results more often than ads, essentially rebutting the research cited above. A 2012 Google study found that 81% of ad impressions and 66% of ad clicks happen when there is no associated organic search result on the first page. Research has shown that searchers may have a bias against ads, unless the ads are relevant to the searcher's need or intent. The same report and others going back to 1997 by Pew show that users avoid clicking "results" they know to be ads. According to a June 2013 study by Chitika, 9 out of 10 searchers don't go beyond Google's first page of organic search results, a claim often cited by the search engine optimization (SEO) industry to justify optimizing websites for organic search. Organic SEO describes the use of certain strategies or tools to elevate a website's content in the "free" search results. Users can prevent ads in search results and list only organic results by using browser add-ons and plugins. Other browsers may have different tools developed for blocking ads.

See also Click-through rate Internet marketing List of Search Engines Search engine optimization Search engine results page Web page Web crawler Site map

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Organic search results

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Organic search results claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In chemistry, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Organic search results before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Organic search results ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Organic search results

In research: Organic search results appears in chemistry research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Organic search results in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Organic search results is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Internet terminology, Online advertising, Search engine optimization, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Organic search results outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Organic search results in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Organic search results means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Organic search results out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Organic search results in simple terms?

Why does Organic search results matter?

Because it connects several chemistry ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Organic search results?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Organic search results.