Real-time search results may be less useful to search engine optimization (SEO) efforts than previously believed, according to the results of a study conducted by online marketing firm OneUpWeb.
The company used eye tracking to measure the amount of attention that users paid to various sections of the screen, including the area where real-time search results are displayed. The participants were divided into two groups: One group was told to search for a product that they would be interested in buying, and the other was told just to search for product information.
Nearly three-quarters of participants said that they’d never even noticed real-time search results, and a clear majority said they were "indifferent" to them. A little less than half of the information-only group found the real-time results useful, a figure which dropped to 25 percent for the active consumers.
Experts say that the early rush to implement real-time search engine optimization (SEO) may have been slightly misguided, in light of the OneUpWeb study’s findings, according to Greg Stirling of Search Engine Land.
