Do Questions Find Answers?

Reading the Landscape: The Geography of Search Behavior

How to read this chart: Each bubble represents a (searches, destinations) pattern. X-axis shows how many times you searched that term. Y-axis shows how many different sites you visited. Bubble size = how many search terms share that pattern. Color = average time to first click (green=fast, red=slow).

The three territories:

• Bottom-left (small x, y=1): The "I know what I want" zone. Quick, single-destination, mostly green. These are confident searches where the question and answer are well-matched.
• Top-right (large x, large y): The "deep research" quadrant. Many searches, many destinations, often yellow/red. This is where learning happens—you're building understanding across sources. Surprisingly, these aren't failures; they represent the most valuable searches in the dataset.
• Right-middle (large x, y=1): The fascinating paradox. Searched many times but only clicked one destination. This splits into two stories: either perfect muscle memory (green bubbles, same reliable source), or persistent frustration (red bubbles, kept trying but nothing clicked). Same pattern, opposite meanings.

The big insight: Single-destination doesn't mean simple, and multi-destination doesn't mean lost. The most-searched terms (x > 40) are almost all single-destination—which reveals that repetition creates certainty. You don't explore more as you search more; you explore less. The first few searches teach you where to go, and the rest become ritual. Expertise isn't knowing everything—it's knowing exactly where to look.