Where Do People Look on a Webpage?

I found this interesting article that illustrates the pattern of a person’s gaze when viewing a blog or other webpage.

Where Do People Look? Eye Movement & Viewing Patterns

In the first few seconds someone is on your blog they are going to quickly scan with their eyes and make a number of decisions.In the first few seconds you have a big chance and your best chance to leave “lasting imprints.” People will be driven to your blog looking for particular information; but perhaps there are other “things” you might also want to attract their attention and insight their interests. The “left to right” reading pattern in Western Societies has tremendously influenced the way people “view” and “see” blogs.

Essentially, people use a zigzag pattern: first they look at the upper left corner, then move right and down slightly to the right margin, then left and down toward the left margin, then over to the right, up, and back to the upper left corner.  During that time, they identify whether there is anything of interest that they want to read further or maybe click.  

This is very useful information in terms of layout design, though fairly obvious if you know about reading patterns.  (English reading, that is: if you blog for Arabic or Hebrew speakers, mirror the diagram from right to left.)  Your most important item, such as a logo or blog title, should go in the upper left.  Farther down you can put important items on the right and left margins, but avoid the other three corners.  Text, images, and ads along the gaze track will get more attention from your viewers than things along the bottom edge or in corners where nobody looks much.

If you blog about worthy causes, or use a website to build community, then paying attention to audience behavior can help you reach a lot more people.  If you use advertising to support your site, this can boost your revenue.  But it’s up to you what things you really want to emphasize by putting them in the hot spots.