How do you scan a web page? Do you look at the centre of the page? The bottom of the page? The right hand side of the page? Eye tracking technology reveals that web users are likely to scan a webpage in an F-shaped pattern. That’s right, in the shape of the letter F.
If you’ve studied marketing and advertising, or you work in print, you may be familiar with the “lazy Z”. This is very much the same, except on websites, the contour takes the eye vertically down the page the across the page in two fast movements.
The F-shaped pattern heat map not only shows consistency in the way that web browsers absorb our web content, but it gives us a great indication of how we should arrange our key information.
Attention! F-shaped Pattern Improves Usability!
Potentially, this subheading (above) could be seen when a web visitor looks across the page for the first time. Now, seasoned SEOs will know that H2 tags and text bolding can bring great benefits to an SEO campaign. So here is where the dilemma is yours to handle; should you put the most important reader information in your subtitle, or should you optimise for search engines?
The F-shaped pattern heat map study below:
Source: useit.com
We think that it’s important to use your common sense when it comes to content arrangement - and remember that web usability is extremely important. If you really do have important information that you want to share in your subtitles, it’s worth putting readability before search engine optimisation. If you look back at the subtitle used in this post, you’ll see that a potential key phrase has been used ("F-shaped pattern"), so there is scope to do both.
Images and the Web Heat Map F-Shaped Pattern
Using images in your content is good link bait. Not only do you need quality content to build natural linking opportunities, but you need fantastic images to capture your audience. Images should be relevant and of a high quality, and the F-shaped pattern web page heat map shows us that positioning is just as important.
Although this study gives us a good indication of how content and images should be structured on a webpage, it’s also crucial to remember that readability and usability is a top priority – so the web heat map F shape doesn’t always have to be followed so stringently.
Find out more ways of improving your website content here: 10 Simple Tips to Improve Your Copywriting
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