This week, in our regular FOW story we look at another of our key features that we’d like you to know more about, so you can make the best use of it. Today take in depth look into Deep Links
What are Deep Links?
Deep Links are a list of popular links within a site, that are displayed within the top result, usually our Best Match result, when we are confident that the user intends to navigate to the top site. Customer research says the number one thing people are looking for in a search engine is the quickest way to find what they are looking for. Deep Links do exactly that and help simplify the user’s task by taking them one step closer to their final destination.
How does it work?
Using toolbar and IE data we determine the most popular actions taken on the homepage and provide quick links to those right on the SERP within the best match top link. We’re currently serving Deep Links for 1.4M sites and the Deep Link feature is displayed for 30% of overall queries issued on the SERP.
A great example of Deep Links in action is the below query for Alaskan Airlines – right within the result, below the website summary description, you have quick access to flight status, check in and reservations.
Perhaps you are planning a visit to a national park this Labor Day weekend? Using top Deep Links you can easily and quickly plan your trip, find directions and check up on fees and current conditions.
Looking to find the closest location of a retail store, or a specific department within it? Using Deep Links you can quickly navigate to a retail store’s popular departments or store locator page without having to click through to the site home page. What a time saver!
Popularity
Deep Links are one of the most popular features on the sites. They are the second most clicked feature after algo results. The below pie shows a comparison of clicks each of the different site features received in the month of July (algo results not included). Some examples of our most popular Deep Links include:-
· users click on Directions 18% of the time that we display Deep Links for MapQuest
· users click through to the Mail Deep Link 19% of the time for Yahoo
