  People use search engines to find answers to questions related to their
health, finances, or other socially relevant issues. However, most users are
unaware that search results are considerably influenced by search engine
marketing (SEM). SEM measures are driven by commercial, political, or other
motives. Due to these motivations, two questions arise: What information
quality is mediated through SEM? And how is collecting documents of different
quality affecting user knowledge gain? Both questions are not considered by
existing models of information behavior. Hence, the doctoral research project
described in this paper aims to develop and empirically test an information
search behavior model on the influences of SEM on user knowledge gain and
thereby contribute to the search as learning body of research.
