SEOMoz was given a chance to test a Mirmetrix eye tracking device. The used the opportunity to analyze the impact of Universal results generated by Blended results, the 7-pack, shopping and videos inserted in the SERPS. I was of course most interested in the Local results. Their conclusion?
These results also suggest that the in-page Local/Places results are having a strong impact, even if they fall in the middle of the page. In these limited cases, they seemed to pull attention away from the top organic spots.
Very interesting. I wonder how the blended results vary. Did they show that heat map?
Comment by Shawn (14 comments) — October 6, 2011 @ 10:53 am
Just checked… They do. I probably should have checked that before commenting before. :\
Comment by Shawn (14 comments) — October 6, 2011 @ 10:56 am
AWESOME! Thanks for sharing this Mike! Talk about a fantastic closing tool for any business wondering if they should focus their efforts on getting ranking in GP! Mind if I swipe the image? lol.. I had always suspected this to be the case, but now here is viable PROOF!
Comment by Eric Christopher (36 comments) — October 6, 2011 @ 10:58 am
This so great to see where the eyeballs go. So it looks like the first 5 places entries are the most desirable spot to be in. Even if you show up 5th or 6th in organic search you fall way behind the places position above. There is work to be done.
Comment by daniel (38 comments) — October 6, 2011 @ 12:45 pm
Those are dramatic and compelling pictures of eyeball action. Its only a tiny example though, and I wonder about who the 8 participants were.
Information like that is extremely valuable. I would hope that it represents and unbiased group of people without any prior knowledge of the search phrases.
Comment by Dave (81 comments) — October 6, 2011 @ 2:03 pm
I love eyeball tracking studies. I wish there were more of them to show us not only what consumers are attracted to in search results, but on home pages and other web properties. Fascinating stuff. Thanks for sharing, Mike.
Comment by Dino Maiolo (1 comments) — October 7, 2011 @ 11:48 am
Awesome eyetracking study! Although a small sample, this reinforces the importance of Google Places.
One would assume that people are naturally inclined to look at anything that is red-colored (read: red map markers). The star rating system seems to act as an attention-getter, who wouldn’t like to read reviews before purchasing?
Comment by Jeff Pan (1 comments) — October 10, 2011 @ 9:02 pm
Interesting how the 3, 4, and 5 results in the local pack have relatively the same intensity. In normal SERP studies, there is still a big difference between 3 and 5…
Comment by Keith (8 comments) — October 13, 2011 @ 7:39 pm
[...] potential change to grey is interesting. We know from eye tracking studies of local results, and intuitively understand, that the Red pins are very compelling to the searcher and attract [...]
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