Google's search results pages have greatly evolved over the last decade and so have the ways searchers behave on those pages. Discover where people look and click on Google's search results pages.

2. INTRODUCTION
• What is Google’s “Golden Triangle”?
• Why was the study conducted?
• Eye-tracking explained
KEY TAKEAWAYS
• What we learned
• Implications for businesses
• Benchmarking click-through-rates
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
• Download the full study
• Submit a question
Ian Everdell
Manager, UX and Research
Angie Dzwonkiewicz
Senior Manager, Direct Marketing
WHAT WE WILL COVER

3. WHAT IS GOOGLE’S GOLDEN TRIANGLE?
• The Golden Triangle is an area of concentrated gaze
activity at the top left corner of the search results
page.
• It was first discovered by Enquiro* in a 2005 ground
breaking study.
• Generally speaking, if your listing was not in the
Golden Triangle, your odds of being seen by a searcher
are dramatically reduced.
* Enquiro became part of Mediative in 2010.

5. GOOGLE SERPS: 2005 VS. 2014

6. WHAT WE WANTED TO KNOW

7. HOW THE STUDY WAS CONDUCTED
We tracked movement of
the eyes across the SERP,
and where the final click
took place.
Example search task:
“Imagine you are moving from Toronto
to Vancouver and are looking for an
apartment. Use Google to find
apartments for rent.”

8. EYE TRACKING EXPLAINED
• Little cameras take pictures of the eyes while the
participants looks at the computer screen.
• Captures where participants do and do not look on the
page.
• Measures attentional capture and engagement.
• In this study, eye tracking provides us with evidence of
which results form the consideration set.
SERP = Search Engine Results Page.

9. WHAT WE LEARNED
Where searchers have 1 been conditioned to look has changed.

10. WHAT WE LEARNED
1 What this means to businesses:
• SEO strategy is no longer a one-size-fits-all approach.
• Branding opportunities exist—even if a click is not captured.

11. WHAT WE LEARNED
1 What this means to businesses:
• SEO strategy is no longer a one-size-fits-all approach.
• Branding opportunities exist—even if a click is not captured.
• Businesses must be visible where there will be the biggest impact on branding and
traffic.

12. WHAT WE LEARNED
People are viewing more search results listings during a single session and
spending less time viewing each (1.17 seconds/listing).
Now more than ever,
searchers are
conditioned by mobile to
scan vertically.
2014 2005
2

13. WHAT WE LEARNED
2 What this means to businesses:
• Front load relevant content in both organic and sponsored listings.
• Keywords, meta descriptions, content, ratings and reviews, Google + Local
Optimization are all critical SEO components.
• Proper code markup (i.e. schema) should be used wherever possible to provide
more detail in the search listing.

14. WHAT WE LEARNED
• 4th organic listing
• 26%of page clicks
• 15%of time spent on the page

15. WHAT WE LEARNED
3
Businesses that are positioned lower on
the SERP (especially positions 2-4) will
see more click activity than several
years ago.
Prime organic real estate is shifting
further down the page, and it’s worth
much more.

16. WHAT WE LEARNED
3 What this means to businesses:
• The importance of a business being the first listing vs. on the first page is
dependent on the searcher’s intent, plus brand strength.
• The top organic spot can be difficult to obtain, especially for businesses that are
competing with big brands.
• Understanding searcher intent can help determine how much should be invested in
trying to appear higher up in the SERP.

17. WHAT WE LEARNED
Informational search:
Navigational search:
4x
more clicks
below the 4th
organic listing.

18. WHAT WE LEARNED
1
In summary…
It’s notalways about getting to the #1 listing in Google.
Businesses must focus on traffic and ranking in tandem—not in isolation—by putting
effort into appearing in multiple areas of SERP.
2 A solid, user-focused content strategy is much more robust than simply chasing the
algorithm.

19. KEY IMPLICATIONS FOR SPECIFIC TYPES OF BUSINESSES
1
National Advertisers
• Searchers actively seek out big name brands, even if they are listed further down
the SERP. For big name brands, it’s not critical to be the #1 listing.
• Smaller brands, even if they achieve 1st place organic ranking, cannot be
guaranteed traffic.

20. KEY IMPLICATIONS FOR SPECIFIC TYPES OF BUSINESSES
2 Local Businesses
• There is the opportunity to appear in several areas of the SERP, maximizing screen
real estate that is taken up.
• An essential element to a local SEO strategy is building website content that the
searcher will find useful, and that will match a local searcher’s keywords and intent.
Local searches often include regional/city modifiers.

21. KEY IMPLICATIONS FOR SPECIFIC TYPES OF BUSINESSES
3 Online Publishers
• Publishers rely heavily on unique visitors to pages on their site, and are likely to be
negatively impacted by the knowledge graph.
• Publishers must take SEO seriously if they want to achieve a high organic ranking,
and minimize the decline in organic traffic.

22. BENCHMARKING CLICK-THROUGH RATES: 2005 VS. 2014

23. BENCHMARKING CLICK-THROUGH RATES: 2005 VS. 2014
Listing Position 2005 CTR 2014 CTR
Top #1 Sponsored Ad 9.4% 9.9%
Top #2 Sponsored Ad 4.7% 4.6%
Total Top 2 Sponsored 14.1% 14.5%
Top #1 Organic Listing 32.3% 32.8%
Top #2 Organic Listing 3.6% 11.8%
Top #3 Organic Listing 5.7% 10.7%
Top #4 Organic Listing 6.2% 7.3%
Top 4 Organic 47.8% 62.6%
Total Organic 56.7% 74.6%
Above 4th Organic Listing 67.6% 84%

24. Download the Full Study at:
https://www.mediative.com/SERP