Online adults in the US are more likely to discover websites via natural search engine results than through any other means, reports Forrester Research in a new study. Respondents were asked how they typically found websites they had visited in the prior month, with 54% pointing to search, up from 50% the prior year. Notably, social networking sites moved up a couple of notches to the second spot in the website discovery rankings, typically used by 32% in 2012, up from 25% in 2011.
Social networks overtook links from other websites (28%, down from 31%) and emails from friends or family members (25%, down slightly from 26%).
Aside from social, a couple of other website discovery sources made big strides from one year to the next. In 2012, 26% of respondents said that they typically found websites as a result of emails from companies or brands, up from 15% the year before. That suggests that all those extra emails from brands are having their intended result. Read the rest at MarketingCharts.
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