SEO and Blogging - The beauty is in the "Eyes" of the beholder
Last week we did a class called "Are You Invisible" and had a great turnout with guest speaker Gary Clayberg from WA. One of the topics during the SEO and Blogging discussion was about heat maps that show and reveal how the "eyes" of your traffic and visitors see your site and the search engine results. It's absolutely fascinating when you think about it, and it most definitely should be thought about after you read this.
Think of how long you spend reading a blog post vs skimming, or how much time you spend on that Google Search results page. Do you scroll down? Do you go to page two or three when there are seven million pages returned? No. If you do, then you are unique and have way too much time on your hands. lol~ Take a look at these visual heat maps and then look at your own SEO results and your sites and Blogs.
The research and results I'm sharing below apply to search engine optimization and your marketing efforts so I hope this helps. How important is page positioning and rank in both Organic and Pay-per-click search results for visibility and click through in Google? The new Eyetools Eye-Tracking Study verifies it's very important. Notice the areas below the red-line and to the right of the page on the search example below.
Image source: Eyetools.com
(PRWEB) -- A joint eye tracking study conducted by eye tracking firm Eyetools and search marketing firms Enquiro and Did-it.com has shown that the vast majority of eye tracking activity during a search happens in a triangle at the top of the search results page indicating that the areas of maximum interest create a "golden triangle." Snippet courtesy of PRWEB
There's a theory that the cosmetic appeal and placement of content on your Blog or site does make a difference. It can and will have an impact on the results you're getting from your SEO and Blogging efforts. It's not just content that is King, but where it's most "visible" and most viewed can truly help build your kingdom. Are you like me and saving the punchline or important quotes for the wrong spot? :-O
Image source: Eyetools.com
Researching this was an "eye" opener for me. (pun intended) I'm warning all readers that this information may require you to do some rearranging and house-cleaning on your sites for the eyes that you're trying to reach too.
Here's the part that most readers and viewers will miss according to the heat map image above: "No idea is so outlandish that it should not be considered with a searching but at the same time a steady eye." Winston Churchill "The way to see by Faith is to shut the Eye of Reason." Benjamin Franklin "That old law about 'an eye for an eye' leaves everybody blind. The time is always right to do the right thing." Martin Luther King, Jr.
"Learn More. Get More. Do More. Be More."
This is something totally new! I have never heard of this before now. It's amazing the tools that are being created and how fast they become outdated.......something cutting edge today will be obsolete tomorrow.
Amazing tools out there...I see most of the important areas then are top and end...interesting!
On a post, you can lose the reader if it is not set up correctly, no matter how wonderful the message or content. Visuals can make a simple presentation seem remarkable. The saying you can't judge a book by it's cover .. well these days the book won't even get opened unless it strikes that great first impression .. like a home. Thanks for the great information!
Fantastic post Brad. Jay Thompson wrote something about heat maps recently that alerted me to their value for SEO. I like your way of breaking it down and helping me to visualize it. I think you may be right. I probably need to do some clean up on my site now.
Hey Larry - I spent a couple days researching this in my spare time and have to agree with the results based on my own personal searching and blog reading activities. People move so much faster online these days because the "eye" can. One thing we'll never have to worry about on the information super-highway is a traffic jam. lol~
Thanks Brad I am off to check out this new tool!!
Brad, Very interesting. And I know just what you mean about how readers "read" the page. I do the same.
In my past corporate life I spent years in marketing application development tools. When user interfaces became GUIs, we had millions of programmers dropping junk all over the screen. We had to teach programmers that users expect certain types of information in certain places. People discredit an application if it doesn't automatically present data where the brain expects to find it.
This phenomanon is my #1 beef about the proliferation of tools that allow bloggers to create their own layouts. Headway, for example is a slick little tool for designing "whatever you want". But the problem is that users of any website, in this case real estate sites, have their expectations conditioned by sites they frequently visit. All the large real estate sites I can think of have a single line search bar about 20% of the way down in the center, drop down menus for additional criteria on the left, and a map interface on the right.
When Zillow changed their UI last week it threw me while I looked for data entry fields in the places they used to be. I'll get used to it, as will all users, but it is a great example of this phenomenon.
This has enormous implications for the real estate blogger. Since most people who read your blog have also spent time on the major aggregator and broker sites, they will intuitively expect the information to be presented in the way they expect. If you make someone spend too long interacting with your UI, they never get to your content.
BOB STEWART: If you see this, this is proof that the Community Page needs to be changed. It wastes valuable real estate with the too large photo.
Brad, another excellent, informative post to help us keep our blogs vibrant and interesting to read. Thanks...
Brad,
Great post; There was some extensive research done. Perhaps you were the one who shared it. Readers tend to scan the page like a large capital letter F. You post today seems to reflect a similar finding.
Best,
Steve
I've seen heat maps before and always thought they were interesting...but am unsure how to parlay that into a "best selling" type format. It would also be interesting to mesh this info with what we know about SEO and how Google "sees" things. I read this week that Google does not like videos on the home page - it's considered an ad or spammy, but likes it elsewhere on a site or blog. So many pieces to try to patch together!
Thanks Brad for keeping us abreast of the latest tools and gadgets. The visual makes it easy to "see" the importance of proper placement of what you want your viewers to see and read. Maybe we need to put the "punchline" first and the story last...
Interesting stuff, book marked for closer look later today,
Mind blowing stuff. There is absolutely so much to learn.
Very interesting stuff here Brad. Since we're trained to read from left to right, and from up to down, our pages need to follow this pattern to keep the reader from clicking away.
Brad, isn't this heat map simply where the mouse tracks? And I typically let the mouse sit anywhere when reading or writing or whatever... so how can this truly tell you what someone is looking at on a particular page.. ? Unless they scroll or click of course..
Brad- I'm still trying to grasp this post (and BTW thank you once again for generously sharing your knowledge) but will have to say that while I subconsciously knew of the importance in "staging" a page, I never gave it any real thought. I will now.
Kristin - it is amazing how much we can learn from these studies.
Connie - you are right on.
Denise - thanks. Jay Thompson is someone I respect and follow. Glad you liked my version.
Ritu - go learn and have fun.
Susan - lets change the word "read" to "view" instead. :-)
Leslie - It's great that sites like Zillow and ActiveRain listen to their members and "viewers" yes?
Craig - just make sure your vibrant happens sooner than later. (I need to practice what I preach! lol)
Steve - scan or view IS the new read.
Mary - there are many theory's out there to piece together for sure. If our "eyes" are opened to something that makes sense and works, then we adopt it or make the necessary changes as we see fit. I think this stuff is very interesting myself.
Dan - exactly what I was thinking. I'm one who can't tell a joke because I always blow the punchline too early or in the wrong spot. lol~
Gerry - see ya when you come back... bet you won't scroll down here though. Prove me wrong and leave a comment if you do. :-O
Paula - this is a huge observation and will hopefully help some folks out there, it did wonders for me.
Craig - trained or brainwashed, it's how we roll. I guess that's why it makes so much sense? :-)
John - glad you found this uSEOful~
Tammy - here's some details about the eye tracking process and the frequently asked questions. I didn't see in my research that it had much at all to do with a floating, sitting, or read-as-you-go mouse use. http://www.poynterextra.org/eyetrack2004/faq.htm
Kathy - it will make more sense as you trace your own reading and search result activities. I was fascinated by how I travel and read around the web once it was no longer a subliminal routined activity.
Wow, this is amazing. Good stuff, thanks for helping us work smarter!
Awesome information Brad, as always! I'm sure I need to "do some rearranging and house-cleaning on MY sites"
As usual, great information, Brad! Can I hire you to rearrange my site?! LOL Seriously, I've got someone working on it now and will send her this post if she hasn't already seen it. I totally agree with the concept because folks have brought things to my attention that I totally missed because of the way I scan pages. I think we all have different methods of scanning but, if the majority scan in the manner which they shared, then we need to make TRIPLE-sure that our sites are appealing to the eye!
Hugs...
Interesting, more to think about now when writing a post!
Brad I couldn't agree more with your post. Our research into lead capture has proven out again and again that this study is the oracle of sagely advixe regarding capturing your audience attention. Once we had adopted this kind of thinking into our real estate search and lead capture form placement, we saw an increasing rate of capture on our search sites and community information pages. We are now approaching a 10% lead capture rate as we dial in on placement of the right message for the right audience.
thanks for bringing this to light of the community,
james
Good stuff, Brad. Maybe I'll switch my posts from the boring white background to the livelier heat map look. :)
The "hot spots" for eyes appear to be the very same as the "hot spots" I learned about in the newspaper gig 26 years ago. I have gotten away from some of the "old school" stuff I learned in my years of newspaper marketing... like white space, position ect... and focused so much on content. I can see after reading this that although content is equally important, don't forget the basics.
Brad - this is an excellent read, and bookmarked for further reading and as a reminder. We know how Google searches a page...like we read, but this adds new information that should not be ignored. Goon visit Eyetools.com to learn more.
Jeff
Brad,
Amazing information... so glad you shared this with us. I learn so much from you. Thank you for helping us help ourselves to be better at what we do... appreciate it!
Great topic. I prefer sites that get to the point quickly and remain on point. From my perspective, (just my personal opinion) I associate all the distractions (cool blinking gadgets, widgets, and other things that make you fidget) with the "bait and switch" scheme.
It appears that the companies selling the technology are frequently the ones selecting the test group for the study. Good marketing or conspiracy theory?
My point is that your business web site presentation should be consistent with your business service presentation. Bland to Wild.
Have you heard of MouseFlow?
I just say it on TechSavy Agent this week, and it was similar to what you have shown us here.
Great topic...great information. Thank you Brad!
Great information, Brad.
The area(s) of the web page that a visitor's eyes fall upon is Prime Real Estate. What a shame when Web Designers place the most important stuff on the parts of the page that get no eyeballs.
Wow, this is awesome. Funny, i read research about a year ago that suggested the lead capture page or call to action should always be in the upper left corner. For a while I tried to get it there but the word press blog templates I work with don't make it easy. This absolutely confirms this research...Good Stuff!
Neat stuff. No wonder my son (my SEO) keeps telling me that the top 3 spots on the first page of Google are the most crucial. Some study from over 10 years ago found that there's a 42% chance of a viewer clicking on the top result in the SERPs, and that percentage decreases exponentially as you go down the list.
Used to be all we had to worry about was content. Today SEO, placement, viewing patterns, etc. We all know the internet is going to play a larger part in our ability to attract business so it's great to have new information brought to us. Thanks for the education!
I've seen other heat maps, but never eyetools. Thanks for the mention. I am at the point now where I need to fix some leaks.
That is really cool information. unfortunately The home search widgets on my Wordpress blogs are in exactly the wrong places!
Brad very interesting information. I have read about this sometime ago and I suspect I will need to make some changes.
It makes me wonder if I should change my Wordpress blogs around. . my "hooks" values are all on the right column. . they all should be on the left!
Brad, The way technology is going, I expect there to be a future scan device for the reader to determine if it is even worth the readers time. I think that I need to look at my punch line placement for sure and see where I am putting the biggest bang. Thanks for pointing this out and helping us grow.
Hi Brad - The heatmap concept is very interesting. A large number of websites are poorly designed with links etc. in unexpected area. I will need to study this area further and see how to implement it on my websites.
Brad - Great stuff. We used to use these techniques on some of our package designs when I was in marketing. I'm going to need to check my results on google to see where my lines start/stop on the left. Not sure how to influence that on my blog but I think I can on my website pages. I htink Fernando has the right idea here.
Also, it looks like eyes focus on #'s and I've read that before (and personally experienced) and that's a good reminder to add in some #'s (selectively) Not sure if a phone # has same impact but certainly things like "top 10 reasons...."
Brad,
The Ayes Eyes have it! Need to put on my thinking cap to see how I can improve based on this.
I have 2 clients that kill me. One is and engineer and the other is a English Lit major. Both run unrelated companies, but they both believe that more is more and web sites are not complete without scads of information on each page.
I set up a landing page with my way (bullets and graphics) and a landing page their way (scores of information). Showed them we out performed them 3 to 1. Both couldn't get away from the overtext and both still wonder why each lead costs them as much as it does.
Brad,
This is very significant. It does suggest a rearrangement in terms of presentation. Thanks,
Brian
This is very interesting ... I'm not quite sure what to do with it yet. But, now that I'm aware of this, as I browse google.com or activerain.com, I'm sure I'll see things differently!!!
Brad, Very interesting. So much to learn still and so little time!!!
Hmmmm, rethink, redesign...much to think about and improve upon!
Brad,
Yup I have seen something like this before when it comes to user interface design models at PARC. The big thing is understanding how humans think, behave and respond. Great stuff and thanks for sharing...
-Brent
wow, great info. it shows you can not get placement with blogging. always blog and always try to improve your blogging.
Interesting info! I'm always looking for ways to improve my blog and tips like this are very helpful. Thank you!
I think there must be some exceptions to this theory as all our contact information and widgets of value are located on the right hand side of our AR Blogs. So many members on AR have experienced great success and received business so "eyes" must be wondering over to the right as well. I'd love to see a heat map from those who visit ActiveRain and our Blogs, maybe we are changing the way consumers and visitors look and see things?!?
More evidence that your content needs to make it into the top 3 spots on google to be read. I think with Google the heat map is the result of people's adjustment to knowing where to look for the most relevant info. It would be interesting to see if the paid ads moved to the left side rather than the right.
Brad - you always bring out the goodies. I missed the class, but have this marked for further review =}
Brad, heat maps are always so interesting and the "placement" of where you put things on the site and where people click.
Brad - on the left vs. right thing for widgets, etc...we are trained to read left to right. Left is meant for navigation so just moving all the widgets will confuse people. And, the logic is they read the post, and if they like you, they will go to the right for the widgets and want to learn more. That's like a call to action and moving them will prob. make them less effective since no one will click on them until after. putting them before will actually confuse the reader and then they are less like to read or take any action.
Debbie - I totally agree with that observation and you can bet that was strategically thought out by the AR dev team. It goes to show that the research with these heat maps may be accurate on some or many pages and sites, but does not apply to all. The thing we all need to keep in mind is that no matter where and what you put up on your blog or site, give great value quickly and keep it simple. :-)
When I moved my featured listing from the right side to the left side on my website... it got 50% MORE hits a month over the same period of previous year. I moved it 8 months ago and today I pulled all my stats and ran the month over month numbers. My total month over month for same period for unique visitors was only 17% more. I guess left is better.
Brad, this is one, I'll have to come back to when I'm not so tired. Thanks so much for sharing!!!
Fascinating stuff! Thanks for sharing. It's definitely important to understand our consumers and how they view our blogs and sites. I agree that since we learn to read top to bottom and left to right, that on some level this is common sense. That said, I'm sure there are some artistic and well-designed exceptions. For most of us, though, it makes sense to take things like this into consideration.
Mark - yes. They say 7 seconds or Fail. :-)
I have seen this before and it is very interesting...I learn something new here everyday.
In many ways, visibility is the currency of the Internet. Visibility has been commodified and packaged into neat resources such as Facebook Ads, Google Adsense, SEO rankings, LinkedIn, etc.