Organic vs. Paid – Who Gets the Most Attention?

A new eye-tracking study comparing Google and Bing search results page viewing by User Centric has been recently released. The study was conducted using 24 subject who averaged 48 online searches per week.

They came up with some interesting findings.

• Users focused on the middle column of the page, both organic and paid results
• Paid results in the right column got significantly less attention than the paid results in the middle of the page or the organic results.
• Very few users are using the filters and suggestions on the left side of the page.
• Google’s top listings in the middle column got more “gaze time” than Bing’s.
• Google’s organic results got more “gaze time” than Bing’s.

So what does this mean for online marketing? Should we give up on paid results unless we can get the top listing placed over the organic results?

Not necessarily.

Attention on search results pages does not always equate to conversions on your site. Paid search might bring you very targeted traffic who are ready to buy now.

Some visibility is better than no visibility. Getting 25% of the attention for a competitive keyword is better than getting zero attention when you rank on page 87.

Understanding how searchers use the search results pages gives you a starting point when initially deciding on the amount of time and resources you dedicate to paid and unpaid search marketing. Over time, you can test which method is not only bringing you traffic, but what method is bringing you conversions and sales.

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