How Do People Find Content Online?

Common approaches

When you’ve spent a lot of time creating something, you want it to be seen. Therefore you need to consider how people look for content.

There’s no single way that a user will arrive on your page. They could arrive by clicking on a link from social media, or another website, after using a search engine, or by typing in a specific URL. 

This means you have to create your content with several considerations in mind.

Think about what your audience want to achieve

The task that people want to complete has a key role in the sort of content they’re looking for, and how they find it.

Consider what they want to think, see, and do as part of their search. For example:

• if they are looking for directions, they may need a map or a quick piece of text
• if they are looking to learn something more in-depth, they may be searching for video content
• if they want to know what something is like, they may be looking for imagery, and evidence of trustworthiness
• if they are looking for key facts, they might be looking for something they can scan to find information quickly (list or infographic)

Their needs may also dictate the sort of content they are not looking for.

Using a search engine

If a user has a query, and they’re not sure who has the best answer, using a search engine is a common thing to do. 

For example, if they’re looking to enroll in a good engineering degree, they may not be specifically using the keyword 'Newcastle'. However, they may be using words such as 'best', or broad locations such as 'England' and 'UK'.

They may also be looking for an answer to a question. Such as: 'What is the best accommodation for students in Newcastle?'.

Or simply…'Student accommodation Newcastle'.

This means that we need to optimise our content to appear in these searches, rather than assuming they will visit the site directly. 

To learn more about search engines, see our guidance on Search Engine Optimisation. 

Searching sites directly

There are times where someone will come directly to your site to look for content. This will often occur when they are searching for something specifically related to you. From accommodation to directions, or details about a faculty or school. This could be because they are a current student or staff member. Or it may still be part of the discovery process.

The key here is to make sure our content is logically placed, and easy to find. For example, if a user is searching for an open day, would they be expecting to find it in the 'courses' section, the 'Study with us' section, or both? Depending on the time of year, should it be promoted in a pop-up or on the front page?

When users still need more information, they will look to our calls to action, particularly if they offer a support or contact link. We thereforre need to be clear about where buttons or links are taking them, and whether they are appropriate for their audience group.

Recommendations from others

Sometimes people will access our content because someone else has recommended it to them. This could be a friend, a peer, an expert, a colleague, another blog or site, or even an advertisement.

To make sure we make the most of these recommendations, we need to ensure that our pages are as welcoming as possible to our target audiences. We can do this with a clean style and clear menu items that help them find their way.

Designing the right URLs

It is important to consider what your URL looks like for a few reasons:

• search engines (eg Google) weight search rankings by analysing how simple, descriptive and user friendly URLs are
• simple URLs are easy to remember, and are therefore better for advertising and sharing between friends and colleagues
• A user may decide to choose your link on a search results page based on how simple it is and whether it looks like it will help them complete their task

This is why we use URLs such as: www.ncl.ac.uk/law

Rather than: www.ncl.ac.uk/GNFWthsh2525G

Simple and descriptive URLs also build trust with the user. Particularly if a user is worried about being sent somewhere which is not relevant to them, or even considered to be harmful or spam-like.