The Google F word

How do you look at Google's pages? I mean really *look* - where do your eyes go?

A recent eye-tracker study examined the eye movements of browsers as they looked at Google search results, and found we follow a typical "F" shaped pattern.

Your eyes scan down the left, and then scan to the right only if something catches your attention.

Have a look at a picture of how our eyes look at Google pages.

And you won't be suprised to see that higher ranking results are viewed more often: 100% of the first three listings are seen, falling rapidly to only 20% for the tenth on the list.

Those Google ads over on the right are seen much less often, with the number one ad seen only half the time, and once your ad is fifth in the list only 10% of searchers even see the ad.

What does this mean for your search engine optimisation strategy? People continue to favour organic (or natural) listings over paid listings, unless the paid listing is at the top of the page.

So, is it worth buying that ad that places you at the top rather than lurking invisibly down at number five? And keep plugging away with your SEO strategy to optimise your page to keep you high in the rankings.