Comments on: Study Says Get In Top 5 Not Top 10 & Search Engines May Need To Highlight Official Sites http://searchengineland.com/study-says-get-in-top-5-not-top-10-search-engines-may-need-to-highlight-official-sites-10256 Search Engine Land: Must Read News About Search Marketing & Search Engines Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:24:43 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Gord Hotchkiss http://searchengineland.com/study-says-get-in-top-5-not-top-10-search-engines-may-need-to-highlight-official-sites-10256/comment-page-1#comment-605 Gord Hotchkiss Wed, 17 Jan 2007 22:01:25 +0000 http://searchengineland.com/beta/study-says-get-in-top-5-not-top-10-search-engines-may-need-to-highlight-official-sites-10256.php#comment-605 And some follow up comments for SearcH EngineS Web.. "The Eye is intuitively attracted to whatever is ATTRACTIVE" Yes and no. Relevancy is more important than physical attractiveness on the SERP. We have a different scanning interaction. "The pastel background color placed behind the sponsor links...ATTRACTS" Actually, no. In fact, if too prominent, it can have the opposite effect, setting the results apart as a sidebar and causing banner blindness. However, I do agree with your other points in your comments. I just wanted to put out these two, based on our research. And some follow up comments for SearcH EngineS Web..

“The Eye is intuitively attracted to whatever is ATTRACTIVE”

Yes and no. Relevancy is more important than physical attractiveness on the SERP. We have a different scanning interaction.

“The pastel background color placed behind the sponsor links…ATTRACTS”

Actually, no. In fact, if too prominent, it can have the opposite effect, setting the results apart as a sidebar and causing banner blindness.

However, I do agree with your other points in your comments. I just wanted to put out these two, based on our research.

]]> By: Gord Hotchkiss http://searchengineland.com/study-says-get-in-top-5-not-top-10-search-engines-may-need-to-highlight-official-sites-10256/comment-page-1#comment-604 Gord Hotchkiss Wed, 17 Jan 2007 21:55:38 +0000 http://searchengineland.com/beta/study-says-get-in-top-5-not-top-10-search-engines-may-need-to-highlight-official-sites-10256.php#comment-604 Danny Thanks for the insightful review. However, after spending way more time than I should have looking at eye tracking results, there are some things that should be considered in the analysis. Please see the following post <a href="http://www.outofmygord.com/archive/2007/01/16/Why-No-Golden-Triangle-in-the-Microsoft-Eye-Tracking-Study.aspx" rel="nofollow">http://www.outofmygord.com/archive/2007/01/16/Why-No-Golden-Triangle-in-the-Microsoft-Eye-Tracking-Study.aspx</a> Danny

Thanks for the insightful review. However, after spending way more time than I should have looking at eye tracking results, there are some things that should be considered in the analysis. Please see the following post
http://www.outofmygord.com/archive/2007/01/16/Why-No-Golden-Triangle-in-the-Microsoft-Eye-Tracking-Study.aspx

]]> By: ★ ★ SearcH EngineS WeB ★ ★ http://searchengineland.com/study-says-get-in-top-5-not-top-10-search-engines-may-need-to-highlight-official-sites-10256/comment-page-1#comment-603 ★ ★ SearcH EngineS WeB ★ ★ Tue, 16 Jan 2007 05:16:40 +0000 http://searchengineland.com/beta/study-says-get-in-top-5-not-top-10-search-engines-may-need-to-highlight-official-sites-10256.php#comment-603 The Eye is intuitively attracted to whatever is <i>ATTRACTIVE</i> The pastel background color placed behind the sponsor links...ATTRACTS The <b>BOLD</b> that Google adds to urls, Title and Description keywords - that match the keywords of the search queries...ATTRACTS Also the eye notices KEYWORDS, but may gloss over STOPWORDS in the description - so efficiency is the new norm Also Capitalization appears to ATTRACT - but too much appears intimidating The new MAP links added by Google to some listings ...ATTRACT The Local Listings defauting on the top of the Organic SERPS ...ATTRACT - and since they include the phone numbers - they may trigger an action, without even clicking on their sites. Also the environment someone is in and the amount of competing for attention behavior affect their reactions. A busy office will trigger a different response from a surfer than a quiet evening at home. Therefore AOL DEFAULT surfers are different form MSN DEFAULT surfers - AND CERTAINLY are different from Google surfers! The Eye is intuitively attracted to whatever is ATTRACTIVE

The pastel background color placed behind the sponsor links…ATTRACTS

The BOLD that Google adds to urls, Title and Description keywords – that match the keywords of the search queries…ATTRACTS

Also the eye notices KEYWORDS, but may gloss over STOPWORDS in the description – so efficiency is the new norm

Also Capitalization appears to ATTRACT – but too much appears intimidating

The new MAP links added by Google to some listings …ATTRACT

The Local Listings defauting on the top of the Organic SERPS …ATTRACT -
and since they include the phone numbers – they may trigger an action, without even clicking on their sites.

Also the environment someone is in and the amount of competing for attention behavior affect their reactions.

A busy office will trigger a different response from a surfer than a quiet evening at home.

Therefore AOL DEFAULT surfers are different form MSN DEFAULT surfers – AND CERTAINLY are different from Google surfers!

]]> By: Search The Web 2 http://searchengineland.com/study-says-get-in-top-5-not-top-10-search-engines-may-need-to-highlight-official-sites-10256/comment-page-1#comment-602 Search The Web 2 Mon, 15 Jan 2007 15:28:19 +0000 http://searchengineland.com/beta/study-says-get-in-top-5-not-top-10-search-engines-may-need-to-highlight-official-sites-10256.php#comment-602 In discussing the second grapth, you wrote that "the first long line dropping down shows that on average, participants reviewed at least eight results". This is not correct statement. What we understand is that people go through about eight results on a page without selecting anything before changing their queries. So these eight results are applied only to the case of query change. Other interesting point is that no data on the result-9 selection. What does this mean? In discussing the second grapth, you wrote that “the first long line dropping down shows that on average, participants reviewed at least eight results”. This is not correct statement. What we understand is that people go through about eight results on a page without selecting anything before changing their queries. So these eight results are applied only to the case of query change.

Other interesting point is that no data on the result-9 selection. What does this mean?

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