You’ve probably heard of someone who met someone online, starting dating, and is now making wedding plans. Or perhaps your friend, relative, or loved one is already married to the person they met online. But, you’re skeptical. Just how serious can the relationship be? Surely there is an epic fail for more than half of the relationships that begin online.

Right?

Wrong!

At least that’s the news according to a recent poll of nearly 20,000 couples. The study, conducted by the National Academy of Science explored almost 20,000 couples who were married between the years of 2005 and 2012. The study discovered that roughly 35 percent of them met their mates on the Internet. Half of that 35 percent met specifically on Internet dating websites.

The surprising thing the research revealed was not how many couples meet online or even that the number is growing fast. What was really surprising is that the couples who met online generally enjoyed greater satisfaction in their marriages as well as a higher success rate. In fact, eight percent of marriages where the couples met offline ended in divorce while only six percent of the marriages initiated via the World Wide Web ended up in divorce court.

Are there any conclusions real world couples can draw from this knowledge? Do you have to go to the Internet in order to have a successful relationship or marriage? Absolutely not! But, there is a fair consensus as to why these relationships tend to be more successful, long-term, than many relationships initiated offline.

1. Both parties are typically looking to settle down and have marriage on their minds once they start sifting through online dating profiles.
2. Couples who meet on the Internet go through a more vigorous screening process than people who meet in a coffee shop, bookstore, or single’s bar.
3. The pool of prospects is much larger than the average person encounters at the “usual” meeting locations.

Before you give up on traditional meet-ups altogether and hit the Internet for your shot at happily ever after, you should also note the people who met online in gaming environments where they were able to hide their natural personalities behind avatars or play a role, were almost equal in success to those who met in bars and other offline locations.

If you’re currently in a relationship, regardless of where the relationship began, it requires work, love, and a great deal of affection to keep it going and maintain the love. The meeting location has little to do with your commitment to your marriage or your willingness to work through the dry patches that come along. Only you can decide that.