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Thursday, January 18, 2007 |
Microsoft released the results of an eye-tracking study focusing on the impact
of search ranking, and more provocatively among industry experts, the impact of
informational snippet links on user task performance. The early (and already debated)
conclusion is that 1. a top 5 rank, not top 10, is crucial; 2. snippet length
has a direct impact on search success.
Editor's Note: Microsoft released an eye-tracking study focusing
on searcher behavior, specifically focusing on the effect of snippet length on
task success. Are studies like this useful to you? Let us know at WebProWorld.
But snippet lengths produced different results depending on the task, according to the 13-page report (PDF):
We found that as we increased the length of the query-dependent contextual snippet in search results, performance improved for informational queries, while it degraded for navigational queries.
In plain English, longer snippets significantly improved the searcher's ability to find what they were looking for with informational tasks (i.e., average June temperature in Caracas). But when navigating for specific sites, longer snippets cluttered up the way.
Our eye tracking results suggest this difference in performance was due to the fact that as the snippet length increased, users paid more attention to the snippet and less attention to the URL located at the bottom of the search result.
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Other findings:
1. Users scan four results regardless of where the best listing is (Though we also know from previous studies that the top listings are inherently trusted more, and it appears searchers consider results in couplets - one and two together, eliminating one, usually the second, and then skipping to three and four, suggesting odd-number results are superior to even-numbered results).
2. Users scanned more results when the best listing was moved further down the page, regardless of snippet length, indicating users know at a glance if the result is the correct one.
3. Users look farther down the list for navigational queries than for informational queries.
4. Users expect to find their desired information in the top five results (Other reports have supported that results appearing above the fold, or where scrolling is required, are clicked on with more frequency. In relation to that, Microsoft's study showed click accuracy rates diminished for rankings 4, 5, 7, and 8. Note: Result six is not included as below the fold, six becomes rank one.)
5. Users examine, on average, eight results before changing their queries, meaning if results 9 and 10 are pretty much SOL.
Over at SearchEngineLand, Danny Sullivan's new magical search stomping ground, Sullivan makes his own conclusion:
Among the findings is that search marketers may need to be more concerned about getting into the top five rather than the top ten, if they want to be seen. In addition, search engines might want to seriously experiment more with adding "official site" links at the top of their pages and possibly enlarge the size of listing descriptions or "snippets" to help searches find what they are looking for.
Sullivan also echoed Microsoft researchers suggestion that, for navigational searches, URLs should be placed above the descriptions.
The question of the snippet, though, remains somewhat controversial. The authors of the study readily admitted that with longer snippets, fewer results are shown on a page. Plus, search engines would need to improve dramatically at distinguishing between an informational and a navigational query to better serve the intent of the searcher.
This is where Enquiro's Gord Hotchkiss weighs in, cautioning about making dramatic changes based on one set of results:
When looking at eye tracking results, it's vital to remember that there is no typical activity. Please don't take an average and apply it as a rule of thumb.
Drawing conclusions such as snippet lengths should be longer or that official site tags should become standard are dangerous, because it's not true for every search. The study actually found that ideal snippet length is highly dependent on the task and intent of the user.
It may be smart to suggest a sort of compromise, rather than either/or dichotomies. In a world of AJAX, it would seem relatively simple to settle the snippet debate with a more information mouse over. Or, dare I suggest, that Ask.com is ahead of the game here by offering website previews in the results.
About
the Author:
Jason L. Miller is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business.
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AdSense
Changes To Thwart Competitors
 By
David Utter
Staff Writer | WebProNews
Google now says that sites displaying AdSense or Google search boxes may not display
other ads or services using the same layouts and colors as the Google products.
That applies to all ads an AdSense member might have displayed anywhere on his
website.
AdSense users beware. Google has updated their policies, and if you have been running AdSense and a competitor's service like Yahoo Publisher Network on a fifty-fifty basis, you could be in violation of the new terms.
Jennifer Slegg of Search Engine Watch warned publishers using Google and Yahoo ads that they will have to make some major changes. She said those webmasters will need to set one of those ad units apart visually by adding borders or a colored background to them.
Some sites run AdSense without borders. Jennifer found out from Google that they will not be very forgiving of any ad look-alikes:
"What about those running borderless ad units? I asked Google, and it doesn't sound as though simply changing the title link color is enough. You will need to do something more drastic, such as changing the color of all the text to something different, or adding a border or background."
About
the Author:
David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business.
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Google.co.uk
- UK results - A key point
Ok UK SEOs - we had a good rant recently about the .com on UK results issue (that Matt Cutts and the Google team seem to have started tackling).
Now I'd like to set another little teaser. I am sure it will not have escaped your notice that a "results from the UK" query produces a search query in Google that includes (both) the operators:
cr=countryGB
cr=countryUK
I am sure that you will have further discovered that if you delete the cr=countryGB operator (so that only the cr=countryUK operator is there) the results are generally (a) cleaner and (b) include fewer non-UK-based sites.
So my question is this: Why do Google use both operators? Surely the actual difference (if any) should simply be Northern Ireland sites?
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