24% Of Internet Users Can't Find Google!

An interesting (should it read alarming) stat comes out this week from Jakob Nielsen who says that 24% of people were unable to get to Google in order to perform a search.

On the one hand, 76% is a high success rate. On the other hand, getting to Google is a very simple task. It's not even a true task — that is, it's not something users want to accomplish for its own sake or something we'd pose as an assignment in user testing. Getting a Google search box is the first step in searching the Web, which is only the first step in doing something real (such as, in one of our test tasks, to find "a strong vacuum cleaner that is easy to use, can pick up pet hair, and costs under $300").

All too often we, who work in the Internet industry, take it for granted that what for us are very simple tasks, will also be simple for other people. I am often guilty of assuming that everything is simple myself. I will ask people on my eMarketing Award courses to type in a URL in the “address bar” or the Google box and am occasionally (not too often!) met by blank stares!