Oneupweb Reveals the Importance of Real-Time Search in a New Eye Tracking Study

March 5, 2010; 01:06 PM

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Move over Google–there’s a new sheriff in town. Today, people are relying on networks like Facebook and Twitter for the most up-to-date-news, and therefore spending less time with traditional search engines.

“We all know Google doesn’t take losing lightly,” laughs Oneupweb Founder and CEO Lisa Wehr. “Google has embraced user-generated content with real-time search results.”

As Google explains, real-time news results are live updates from people on popular sites like Twitter and FriendFeed, as well as headlines from blog posts.

But is anyone actually paying attention to the real-time search results?

“We wanted to know if the average user is recognizing and understanding what real-time results are and if they’re finding and clicking on them,” explains Wehr.

To find the answers, Oneupweb conducted the study using two different groups. The first group, the “consumer group”, searched for a product to purchase. The second group, the “forager group”, just looked for information on a product.

The results revealed some surprising trends:

• The consumer group averaged 9 seconds to the first fixation on real-time results. The information foragers took 14.
• The consumer group had 10 percent fewer clicks on the real-time results than the foragers.
• Only 55 percent of participants could easily find the real-time results.

“Search engines are feeling the pressure to meet real-time demands, and the evolution of search is headed toward a higher degree of social integration,” says Wehr. “It may be slow going at first, but those businesses that are the first to embrace this new kind of search will be the ones that succeed in the end.”

Visit http://eyetracking.oneupweb.com/landing/eyetracking-realtime-results.htm?source=businesswire_realtime_030410&guid=0AFE92BA-1626-DF11-811E-00A0D1E31666 to download the study entitled Search Gone Wild: An Eye Tracking Study On Google’s Real-Time Results.

About Oneupweb

Oneupweb is an innovator in digital marketing, creating integrated online marketing plans that incorporate natural search engine optimization (SEO), paid search marketing (PPC), social media marketing, digital pr, display advertising, analytics, creative services, mobile marketing, website design, web 2.0 technology, audio/video/podcasting, and research, training and consultation. For more information on Oneupweb, please call 231.922.9977, visit OneUpWeb.com or follow them on Twitter @Oneupweb and @LisaWehr.

Contacts:

Oneupweb
Maureen Michaels
231-922-9977 ext. 116