E-commerce Web queries: Excite and Ask Jeeves study

Abstract

Web queries are a key process in e-commerce. Web queries are a primary means for translating people's business product, service and information needs for e-commerce. This paper reports a study of business related queries submitted to the Excite and Ask Jeeves Web search services. We sampled a log of 10,000 Excite queries and 10,000 Ask Jeeves question format queries from 19 December 1999 to examine the business queries. Findings include: (1) business queries often include more search terms, are less modified, lead to fewer Web pages viewed, and include less advanced search features, than non-business queries; (2) company or product queries were the most common form of business query; and, (3) Ask Jeeves business queries in question form were largely limited to the format "Where can I buy ..." or the request "I want to buy ...". The study provides insights into the beginnings of e-commerce Web searching.