What's more visible: the first three organic results, or the top three ads on the right-hand side?

A new eye-tracking study — Did-it, Enquiro, and Eyetools uncover Search’s Golden Triangle — confirms existing research revealing that the eye of the searcher dwells predominantly in a triangular area at the top of the search results page.

This 'golden triangle' is the area of maximum searcher focus: it was looked at by 100% of the study's 50 subjects. In this sweet spot are the topmost sponsored ad results and the top-of-page natural results. All tests were conducted using Google.

Visibility drops quickly as the eye is asked to move down the page or across to the right. For the natural listings, visibility drops to 85% just 'above the fold': that's the percentage of subjects who looked at a listing in that location. And only 20% got to the bottom of the search results listing (position 10).

For the sponsored ads on the right-hand side of the page, the highest ad position got only 50% visibility, a figure that drops in step with the ad's location until, by position 5, visibility is just 10%.

Summary: The searcher's eye is lazy. Top and left visibility is good. As the eye is asked to go to the right and/or down the page, searcher interest falls off sharply. Manage your PPC bids accordingly, and if you aren't frequently in the top natural results for your prime keyphrases, maybe it's time to talk to an SEO consultant.