Most visitors don’t read your website. They scan it. Eye-tracking research by the Nielsen Norman Group found people often read web pages in an F-shaped pattern — across the top, across again a little lower, then down the left-hand side. For a business, that means the words customers actually see are a small fraction of the words on the page.
Nielsen Norman Group (NN/g) is one of the best-known research firms in website usability. In 2006 it published eye-tracking research describing how people read online. More than a decade later, it checked whether the finding still held.
What the research found
NN/g’s original research, published in April 2006, recorded how 232 users looked at thousands of web pages. It described an F-shaped pattern: users first read across the upper part of the content, then moved down and read across in a second, shorter horizontal movement, and finally scanned down the left side of the content in a vertical movement.
In an article published in November 2017, NN/g reported that its more recent eye-tracking research showed the F-shaped scanning pattern was “alive and well” — on both desktop and mobile.
Why NN/g says this is a problem
The F-pattern is often misunderstood as a design template to follow. NN/g is clear that it is the opposite. It describes the F-pattern as the default when there are no strong cues drawing the eye to meaningful information, and says it is bad for users and businesses, because people may skip important content simply because of where it sits on the page.
What NN/g recommends
The research’s practical advice is about giving scanners something to hold on to. NN/g recommends:
- putting the most important points in the first two paragraphs;
- using headings and subheadings to break up content;
- starting headings with the words that carry the most information;
- using bold text to highlight important words; and
- using bullets and numbers to call out items in a list or process.
What a local business can take from this
Put the answer at the top
A visitor to a plumber’s service page wants to know three things quickly: do you do this, do you cover my area, and how do I get in touch. If those answers are buried in the fourth paragraph, many visitors will never see them. Lead with what the customer came to find out.
Make headings do real work
“Our Services” tells a scanner nothing. “Emergency boiler repair in Racine” tells them everything. Because people’s eyes run down the left edge picking up the first words of headings, the start of each heading should carry the meaning.
Break up walls of text
Long unbroken paragraphs push scanners straight into the F-pattern, where most of the text goes unread. Short paragraphs, clear subheadings and lists give the eye places to stop and pick up information.
Front-load every line
Scanners often read only the start of a line or list item. Put the key word first: “Free estimates within 24 hours” rather than “We are happy to provide customers with free estimates, usually within 24 hours.”
Help search engines at the same time
Clear headings and well-structured content do not just help people. They also make it easier for search engines to understand what a page is about — one of the reasons good page structure is part of good SEO.
A reality check
The F-pattern is one of several scanning patterns NN/g has observed, and people read differently depending on the page and what they are trying to do. A well-designed page with strong visual cues can steer attention very differently. The point is not to design around an F. It is to accept that most visitors skim, and to write so that the skimming version of your page still tells them what they need.
This article is part of our Media & Insights case study series on marketing lessons from around the world.
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