rashford
Thanks for so eloquently detailing what I and (I hope) other link builders have been doing subliminally on a daily basis and that is "playing to one's audience".
I was recently involved in some research on this same subject and, in addition to the "F" shaped visual search pattern mentioned in the post, I came across this interesting study. Although the referenced study was testing banner ads I have to think it would also be relevent to an eyecatching text ad/link. After reading the Webreference.com artcle it seemed perfectly intuitive that locations in the top right 1/3 of the page near the scrollbar would have good clickthrough potential. Additionally, I have since become more aware of where my cursor is when I am simply reading content on a page. Although this is purely ancedotal it seems that I typically place my cursor near the scrollbar (a) to get it out of my way while reading and (b) to have it closer to the scrollbar for navigation (even though I almost always use the scrollwheel). Associatively, I've noticed that my attention tends to be drawn to the cursor location prior to moving it and most certainly when it moves. If this is true for most users then that would seem to further support the primacy of right side location for ad copy.
Hey Peter. thanks for reminding me that the majority of the public has absolutely no idea how search results are generated. It's easy to lose sight of that fact when SEO is foremost on one's mind day in and day out.
As a newcomer to the field I'm looking forward to meeting some of the regional experts in SEM/SEO. See ya'll there.
« previous1 next »



Story: Personalize Your Link Building