Warmest Greetings,

The Sensual Art of Eye Tracking: Making Eye Contact, The Heat of the Moment  

:: Thursday, March 17, 2005 ::

I realize that my fan club consists of just 5 people, but my reaction to an article written by Chris Sherman, for Search Day, has me feeling like chopped liver.

You see, suddenly, eye tracking studies are all the rage and because of them, some of the topics I've been writing about for years, both here and in my articles, is suddenly hip.

In today's Just Because Search Engines See Content Doesn't Mean Users Will, by Chris Sherman, (who by the way, is a nice man who I like very much and have had the extreme pleasure of meeting. So I won't chop his head off.), can be found this,

"Based on a number of studies with pages from major web sites, creating search engine friendly web sites isn't enough. It's also important to make sure your pages are designed so that once users arrive on your site via a search engine they see and do what you want them to."

Chris got everyone in SEO-land's attention, too, with this additional piece, Lessons Learned from Eye Tracking Studies

It's true. Always has been. Humans have eyes and search engines have bots.

They operate differently. For starters, there's an infinite set of variables when it comes to your end-user. Some people are viewing web pages crouched in their cube when the boss isn't looking, while others are awake at 2am with insomnia and casually browsing to kill time. These two people will look at your web pages differently, and "see" things in varying patterns, based on things like their environment, physical limitations, etc. Even at this, there are common trends, and we can use this information when planning web page designs.

Search engine bots are faced with funky code, scripts, images, animated spinning things, and invisible text repeated 3000 times. How they respond and "read" this mess plays a part in what they do with your web pages, including what is displayed for your web site description, that people will see, and which should convince them to go to your site.

Now, a new blog, called Eyetools Research will not only tell you more about eyetracking, but how you can resell their software.

Eye tracking software present "heat maps" that help analyze where people are looking and for how long. Finally, a reason to stare and not be considered rude for doing so. What I'm not sure about yet is if they can calculate different eye sight variables into their results, so that you can tell how someone who wears reading glasses responds to and reads your web site vs. those with perfect vision. Or, if there are gender differences in how we read pages.

All in all, we now have another way of figuring out what works and what doesn't and can apply it to our own web sites. However, please remember this! What works on one site doesn't mean it will work on yours. Always test to verify anything new you implement, just to be sure it's the right fit.

This is why we date before getting married. Same thing.


Related

Why Search Engine Marketing Has A Passion for Web Site Usability.

:: posted by Kim Krause Berg on 3/17/2005 03:33:00 PM

:: Today's Post Permalink | Back to the BLOG Home
:: Website Evaluations
:: Email this Post  
:.................................

Feed Bin

Learn how to make RSS Feed Buttons

Highly Recommended!
(Read review)
Search Engine Marketing Kit, by Dan Thies

• User Centered Design
• Usability Industry Research
• Increase Website Conversions
• Starter Ecommerce Checklist

• Web Design & The Usability Effect
• Usability and SEO Humor

Crooked sunglasses

My artistic friends love this picture.

• About Kim Krause Berg
• My Articles
• Me Again (My Fave Blog Posts)
• August 2005 : Expanding on Usability - An Interview with Kim Krause Berg
• Kim's Wish List

Recent Posts

The Usability Motherlode

Car Ads Aren't For Women

How Much Is That SEO Hunk in The Window?

Google Auto Links Thought Control

What is Usability in One Word?

The Secret Appeal of Steve Krug

To Hear Visitor Feedback, Remove Your Hands From Your Ears

You Put The Lime in the Coconut and That's Fine With Me

Why Search Engine Marketing Has A Passion for Web Site Usability

SearchGuild's Alternate Reality Awards Show

Monthly Archives

It's That Book Again

Conversions Topic is New York Times Best Seller (Seriously)

Kim is a Member of the Usability Professionals Association

"This report exceeded my expectations. After reading it a few times, I went through and highlighted those parts of your actionable advice that I want to implement right away... I ended up highlighting most of the report. Stellar job. I won't hesitate to recommend you to one of my own clients." -- Andy Hagans of AndyHagans.com

"I have implemented the most obvious changes and I suppose the fact that we've seen an immediate increase in sales/conversions is no coincidence. I'd highly recommend your service to anyone running a serious web based business." -- Steve Clay, Plumeriabay.com

"As soon as we get our hands on one of her usability studies, my clients and I have a better understanding of what needs to be done with their sites to make them the best they can be from their site visitors' perspective."
-- Jill Whalen, HighRankings.com

"This is an exemplary piece of work." -- Rand Fishkin, SEOMoz.org

View more Testimonials | Clients
Learn about Website improvement services.