The new eye-tracking study by user experience firm User Centric shows that the majority of search engine users don't even so much as glance at the sponsored ad listings on the right hand side of the results page.
The study used search engines Bing and Google to see just how many search engine users paid attention to ads. While organic search results were viewed 100% of the time, only around 1 in 4 paid any attention to the sponsored ad listings.
Fewer Bing users (21%) than Google users (28%) looked at the ads, found User Centric. Even when looked at ads were afforded but a quick glance, averaging around 1 second compared with the 14.7 seconds (Google) and 10.7 seconds (Bing) users spent resting their eyes on organic listings.
"The results of this study suggest that advertisers should place their ads above the organic search results, where the hit rate was more than three times higher and gaze time more than five times longer than on the sponsored links on the right," concludes User Centric.
"When deciding between Bing and Google, advertisers should keep in mind that, ad placement among the top sponsored results on Google attracted 22% more attention than an equivalent placement on Bing."
Ad blindness on the Internet isn't a new phenomenon. At the end of last year a study from Adweek Media and Harris Poll found that, despite an increase in innovation and creativity in online advertising, many consumers are blind to banner ads.
The results of their study of 2,098 U.S. adults also didn't bode well for search engine ads which were cited as being the second-most ignored ads of all channels, with 20% ignoring them.
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