Databases Reference
In-Depth Information
person could then receive information via the visual instead of auditory input, although
one can say that we still “hear” the word in our minds even when it is written.
For sponsored search, we are primarily interested in this visual input, in that we
want the potential customer to see our ads. These ads appear due to the searcher
entering a query into the search engine. So, instead of saying a word, the searcher
types it into a search engine or speaks and a machine translates the word into text.
As such, we are more interested in the actual behaviors of the searchers, especially in
their development of the query and the terms they select for the query. This is not to
say the cognitive processes are not important (they certainly are) but by necessity we
focus on the effect that these cognitive processes have on actual behavior. For key-
word selection, we are interested in the query that the searcher formulates.
Where does the searcher get these query terms? The answer to this question illu-
minates the keyword-selection process.
In the broadest sense, query terms can come from internal or external sources.
However, formulating the query is grounded in human information behavior and
processing.
•
Human information behavior
is the totality of human behavior in relation to
sources and channels of information, including both active and passive informa-
tion seeking and information use [
10
].
•
Human
information processing
is the method of acquiring, interpreting, manipu-
lating, storing, retrieving, and classifying recorded information [
11
,
10
].
There are a number of personal factors that influence information processing in an indi-
vidual, including economic class, culture, education, knowledge, and gender [
12
].
Human information behavior is linked to human information processing, in a
feedback cycle (i.e., information behavior → information processing → follow-up
behavior). So, whereas human information behavior is concerned with external and
exhibited behaviors of the searcher, human information processing is concerned with
the internal aspect of the searcher as they assimilate information.
Figure 3.2
illustrates
the process.
The final aspect of human information behavior is information use behavior,
which consists of the physical and mental acts involved in incorporating the infor-
mation found in the searcher's existing knowledge base. Therefore, it may involve
physical acts such as annotating sections on a Web page to note their importance or
significance, as well as mental acts that involve, for example, comparison of new
information with existing knowledge [
10
].
Placing this
Behavior
→
Processing
→
Use
sequence (see
Figure 3.2
) within the con-
text of sponsored search, there is a searcher that desires information and, via the query,
is taking the first step in a communication process. The advertiser, via the ads linked to
these keyterms by keywords, is communicating with the searcher by providing informa-
tion. The searcher may read the ad, click on the ad, and read the content on the landing
page. The searcher then processes in some manner this new information. The searcher
decides what to do with this information and whether or not they intend to use it.
With each of these steps, there is cognitive activity. Sometimes this cognitive
activity occurs immediately. Other times, cognitive activity occurs (or continues)
