As the Google team tries to come up with Universal search where it integrates traditionally separated search features such as images, maps, books, video and news, it now resorted to eye tracking studies to formulate its algorithm. Eye tracking studies is not new. In fact, it has been used all over the internet to determine the focus of a particular user. As indicated in the Stanford study, there is an assumption that the more time the eyes rest on a particular element on the screen, the more exposure that element gains. However, the question here is if the time it takes the eyes to rest upon an object really equates to the focus of the user on the object.
The eye tracking study that the Google team conducted aims to determine the search results that immediately meet the eye of the searcher. The results showed that the users tend to focus their eyes more on the first result and decrease as it goes downwards. Images and videos do not affect their scanning behavior. The only exception is when a particular title in the results managed to catch the eye of the user.
Eye Tracking Heatmap
The results in the study are reasonable. People do have the tendency to rest their eyes on the first object and decrease as the page moves down. Also, users focus more on text rather than images.
The Stanford study of eye behavior in web pages showed similar results. People tend to focus on text first and only focus on images 22% of the time. Banner ads also receive a lot of attention as indicated by the 1 second focus of users on the object.
But the question here is whether or not focus equates with eye behavior. Joseph Carrabis in his article “Eye-Tracking Studies: Just Say ‘No!’” have this idea that where the eye is pointing to is not necessarily where the mind is focused on. This idea now questions the results of the eye tracking studies conducted by Google and Stanford.
Also, there is also little consideration of loading time. Sometimes people tend to focus on the first object of the page since the page takes time to load. But this does not mean that the person is particularly interested in the first element. Another thing is the focus on text. Maybe this happens because the person has the motivation to read and not view images.
The study provides a good background on how to predict users’ browsing behavior. However, its results are not final. Unless they can read the mind of their users, they cannot really predict which elements on a webpage are more focused on.
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