Google’s Golden Triangle

A joint eye tracking study conducted by search marketing firms, Enquiro and Did-it.com and eye tracking firm Eyetools, has shown that the vast majority of eye tracking activity during a search happens in a “golden triangle” at the top of the search results page. It extends from the top of the first result down to a point at the left side of the bottom of the “above the fold” visible results. This key area was looked at by 100 percent of the participants. Visibility dropped quickly with organic rankings, starting at a high of 100% for the top listing, to 85% at the bottom of the “above the fold” listings, and then dropping dramatically “below the fold” from 50% at the top to 20% at the bottom.

Organic Ranking Visibility
(shown as % of participants looking at a listing in this location)

Rank 1           - 100%
Rank 2           - 100%
Rank 3           - 100%
Rank 4           - 85%
Rank 5           - 60%
Rank 6           - 50%
Rank 7           - 50%
Rank 8           - 30%
Rank 9           - 30%
Rank 10         - 20%
 
In searches where top sponsored results are returned , the top ads received much high visibility, being seen by 80 to 100% of participants, as opposed to 10 to 50% of participants who looked at the side sponsored ads. On side sponsored ads, about 50% of participants looked at the top ad, compared to only 10% who looked at ads in the 6, 7 or 8th location on the page. There seems to be a “F” shaped scan pattern, where the eye tends to travel vertically along the far left side of the results looking for visual cues (relevant words, brands, etc) and then scanning to the right if something caught the participant’s attention.

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