More Eye Tracking Revelations for Search Engine Optimization

People hunt for information in many ways, and in modern times it is primarily via the Internet. Search engine optimization is a phrase you hear thrown around all the time, and it’s said that many of the large search engines frown on SEO, as they see it as a manipulative and unnatural way of altering search results generated by their forever progressing algorithms.

With a little help from eye tracking, one recent study published at Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, Spain, set out to gain some insight into how we now search for information online these days. Producing a series of visuals and heat map displays, the study, originally written in Spanish and translated to some extent on the site The Digital Marketer, says that people use search engines differently. What we’re searching for determines which sites we use, how we search, and what we look for when we do.

People searching for information, like a weather forecast or a phone number or address, look at an average of 8.53 items that pop up in the organic search results. If you’re searching for concrete, short information like directions, a name, or a phone number, chances are you’re not going to spend a lot of time looking at sponsored results. Those looking for such information only spend .64 percent on the sponsored results.

That said, if you’re looking to complete a transaction of sorts, say downloading software or buying a ticket to a concert or play, chances are you’ll look at 4.05 items from the organic results list and 2.20 sponsored results – a jump as compared to a more informational search. We’re used to looking at different elements on the page when we’re searching for different pieces of information, and the overall time spent on informational searches tends to be more than time spent on transactional searches.

Transactional searchers focus more on the meta data – that is the short description that comes up underneath the title in the search results section. Web users spend more time on the snippet underneath than the actual title itself. The eye tracking tests in the study showed that informational searchers would spend more time over central organic search results, while transactional searchers look at sponsored listings at the top of the page. As for where a search engine places their sponsored listings, that all depends. Sponsored listings at the top receive approximately 79% of fixations as compared to 21% when they’re placed in the right column.

The study is available online, and while it’s nothing earth-shattering, as the original post says, it serves as a helpful reminder that it’s important to think about how people search. If you’re planning a marketing campaign, you might want to know how best to position your information so to get the best results.

How we search for stuff: Insights for marketers

Related articles:

1. Eye Tracking: Understanding The Tricks of Search Engine Optimization
2. Eye Tracking Questions Usefulness of Real Time Search Results
3. Eye Tracking Provides Insight into Consumer Search Behavior
4. Eye Tracking Emphasizes Significance of Search Snippets
5. Top 2 Search Engines Google, Yahoo Use Eye Tracking
6. Using Eye Tracking & Mouse Movements to Analyze Search Behavior
7. Eye Tracking Study Users in Interactive Search