Eye-Tracking Measures the Sight Unseen

I read on Google’s Offical Blog about an eye-tracking study the company recently conducted and that got me thinking about eye-tracking in general and about how to use that information to create more effective Web pages and enhanced usability.

First, let me tell you a bit about eye-tracking, how it’s performed, and how it’s used to analyze a Web page’s usability. I’ll get back to why Google’s results are so interesting after that.
When I first read about eye-tracking (maybe 15 years ago) I was surprised to learn that our eyes move so fast–about 30 milliseconds–that we don’t actually see anything when they move. It’s when our eyes fixate that we’re able to process visual data.

Eye-tracking technology looks at when our eyes move, when they fixate and what they fixate on. Researchers mount a sensor, identical to the CCD (charge coupled device) used in a video camera, on top of a computer display and aim an infrared light beam at the test subject’s eyes. The CCD captures the infrared’s light as it reflects off of the viewer’s eyes, using these reflections to detect motion, fixation, distance between the subject’s eyes and the screen, pupil diameter and other data. The areas where the subject gazes the longest are interpreted as hot spots, like those you see on a heat map.

If you ask typical Web page viewers to describe the elements they fixated on and the sequence in which they viewed them, they’re often wrong when compared to the results of an eye-tracking or biometric study. The reason is that this scanning process happens so quickly that many people are not even aware of it.

Watch this video Google’s eye tracker in real-time. Notice just have fast the test subject’s eyes scan and where they fixate.

Google’s, and other studies confirm, the hot zones, are in the upper left corner, which translates to the first three of four top-ranked sites. From there, the eyes continue down the page, with decreasing intensity. Google calls this heat map the “magic triangle.”

Let’s imagine what you might do with information like this

Meanwhile, if your clients are asking you to design pages with ads or other marketing material running down the right side of the page, ask yourself if they’re really getting their money’s worth. Design pages–when possible, obviously–so that key content are within the hot zones on a page.

Ask your client whether they are willing to pay for an eye-tracking study to test different layouts. I’ve listed one company below that conducts these studies. I’m sure there are others.

Eye-tracking is used in conjunction with other usability tests so you shouldn’t be tempted to draw conclusions solely on the result’s of this kind of testing. Eye-tracking is a tool, not a solution, as many experts in this field often say.

When able, reorganize their Web pages into two or three columns, and place AdSense ads, if they use them, at the top of each column. How about listing key content and AdSense ads a third of the way down the page? It’s something to think about.

If you want to learn more about eye-tracking, try these sites

• Eyetools Eyetracking Research conducts eye-tracking studies for a fee, ranging between $3,150 to $5,000. Check out the the company’s blog.
• The Poynter Institute has been conducting eye-tracking studies for years and years. Most of the organization’s research has been into how people read newspapers and how reading print and online differ. If you’re inclined think the differences between reading print and online are similar, you’ll find Poynter Institute’s studies to be, well, eye opening.
• The Software Usability Research Laboratory at Wichita State University regularly conducts eye-tracking studies of how human browsers view Web pages and just how much good design enhances usability.
• UX matters, an online publication devoted to the development of effective user-experience strategies, has a comprehensive introduction to eyetracking.