Like all in the industry, I am curious about how a user might view and respond to the new display that Google is presenting when the Local Listing Ads are included. Between the Adwords, new Local Listing Ads & the 7 Pack organic results have been pushed very far down the page and user behavior is obviously impacted.
Not having a budget for this project I used one of the new algo generated online heatmap products, AttentionWizard to see what the results looked like. According to their own description there is a 75% correlation between this type of heatmap and a real heatmap. So what you see should be viewed with a few grains of salt. That being said, it is interesting. Click the image to view it larger.
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What do you think?
Here is a screen shot of the original search for comparison purposes:
Most interesting to me is that the #1 7-pack result gets so little heat. Better to be in positions 2-5.
Comment by David Mihm (96 comments) — November 20, 2009 @ 2:20 pm
@David
Actually it hits the upper right side panel prior to returning to the 7 pack. Its interesting that the ad in the upper right corner is an Ad for Google Local.
Comment by Mike (1029 comments) — November 20, 2009 @ 2:22 pm
Seems like the glow of 2-5 on the 7-Pak is coming from the map view itself which is the hotspot. Could be viewers trying to match the 2-5 listings to the corresponding location on the map?
The obvious question is: how does the heat map correspond to clicks?
Comment by Walt Goshert (1 comments) — November 20, 2009 @ 3:05 pm
I find it somewhat hard to understand. Like David Mihm, looking at this makes me think the 2-5 positions in the 7 pac get a lot of visibility, somewhat less than the actual maps themselves.
Do you have further explanation?
Comment by Strong coffee (1 comments) — November 20, 2009 @ 3:07 pm
2-3 have mega reviews…..do you think that is playing into it? Sure is nice eye candy.
Comment by Mike Ramsey (49 comments) — November 20, 2009 @ 3:09 pm
looks to me that the clustering of map icons gets the attention, eye drawn to graphics (two colors of pins near one spot), and the positions 2, 3, 4 and 5 closest to that get some extra peripheral views from that.
Comment by Stever (135 comments) — November 20, 2009 @ 3:15 pm
First of all, I find it really interesting that the Google logo appears to be the second hottest thing on the page. It makes me wonder if I, personally, look at the logo when getting results, or if, already being on Google, I just ignore it because I feel confident about where I am.
Secondly, even if this heatmap is only 75% accurate, it certainly shows that images really draw the idea. The map is on fire. I would like to know, when all those people look at the map, how many of them click on it, and how many keep zooming around the page with their eyes to find something.
Neat visuals, Mike.
Comment by MiriamEllis (362 comments) — November 20, 2009 @ 3:21 pm
[...] Google Local Listing Ad Heatmap, Mike Blumenthal [...]
Pingback by SearchCap: The Day In Search, November 20, 2009 — November 20, 2009 @ 6:14 pm
Actually it hits the upper right side panel prior to returning to the 7 pack. Its interesting that the ad in the upper right corner is an Ad for Google Local.Thank you for sharing with us.
Comment by Arijit (1 comments) — November 21, 2009 @ 9:00 am
Awesome Google map and local search info. Exactly what I was looking for.
Comment by Spartan (1 comments) — November 22, 2009 @ 10:58 am
I find it interesting that the new Local Listing Ads (1-4) have no “heat” on the blue markers
Comment by Jason Hyman (16 comments) — November 24, 2009 @ 4:26 pm
@Jason
yes it sort of bypassed them…
Comment by Mike (1029 comments) — November 24, 2009 @ 5:00 pm
Can someone please tell me how to get user generated content to show up on a listing…..Thanks
Comment by mike (1029 comments) — November 25, 2009 @ 9:48 pm
You can’t make it show, it needs to be where Google is looking and if they scrape it, index it and it add it to your cluster, it will show.
Comment by Mike (1029 comments) — November 25, 2009 @ 11:19 pm
where should i put it so it can be scraped? im new sorry……
Comment by mike (1029 comments) — November 26, 2009 @ 1:23 pm
This is very interesting . First listing almost gets missed and the logo gets a lot of heat which i find odd.
People scan the page in an almost “F” shape.
Comment by Desi Leeds (4 comments) — November 26, 2009 @ 5:28 pm
Lokale Suche: Heatmap der Google Suchergebnisse (SERPs)…
Heatmap für lokale Suchergebnisse bei Google
Heute habe ich bei Mike Blumenthal eine interessante Abbildung einer Heatmap der Google Suchergebnisse gefunden, die für alle, die sich mit dem Thema “Lokale Suche” befassen, von Interesse sein d…
Trackback by Kennstdueinen.de Blog — December 1, 2009 @ 5:29 am
mmhhh, not seen results like that yet in OZ looks like some of the traditional SEO rankers are going to be miffed when it rolls out here.
Comment by Aidan (2 comments) — December 3, 2009 @ 6:23 pm
The issue of the weak A listing is an enigma for me.. Anyway, I think that people who looking for a service are with their fingers on their mobiles. Pretty sure that the A listing is getting more calls than all the others. Thoughts here?
@mike (the one who looks for UGC- User Generated Content)- there are plenty of ways getting this kind of info into your listing. Think how can you ‘grab Google ear’ & show it exactly what you want it to see, in the most simple way you can think of. Be creative!!
Comment by PureSheer (63 comments) — December 12, 2009 @ 5:36 pm