Attention for Web Directory Advertisements: A Top-Down or Bottom-Up Process?

ABSTRACT

Web directories have attracted many advertisers with their special advantages in their large user base. Until recently, attention mechanism of advertisements (ad) on web directories is not well understood. To investigate how the ad location and color of web directories influence users’ attention, this study uses eye tracking to measure the participants’ search time, total fixation duration and the location of the first fixation. Results reveal that visual attention on the ad area of a web directory is user-driven and follows a top-down process. The location of users’ first-fixations is the center of the screen. Ad links that place in the center area and on the top-left corner would increase users’ notice. Ad links that change color in the center area have the advantages of attracting user attention. Our findings suggest that ad links should be placed in the center area or on the top-left corner to increase users’ notice. Ad links placed in the center area should be designed using salient color to catch users’ visual attention.

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [Grant no. 71701003, no. 71671001], by the Key Project for Natural Science Fund of Colleges in Anhui Province [Grant no. KJ2017A108], the General Project for Humanities and Social Science of Higher Education Promotion Plan in Anhui Province [Grant no. TSSK2016B27], and the Start Scientific Research Fund for Introduce Talents of Anhui Polytecnic University [Grant no. 2016YQQ023,  no. 2016YQQ007]. We thank all the participants for carrying out the experiments. Further, we thank the editor and anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and advice.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Yaqin Cao

Yaqin Cao is an associate professor from the Department of Industrial Engineering at Anhui Polytechnic University, Wuhu, China. She has completed Ph.D. degree in Management Science and Engineering from the Northeastern University, Shenyang, China. Her research interests include Emotional Design, User Experience Design, and Human-Computer Interaction. E-mail: [email protected]

Qingxing Qu

Qing-Xing Qu is a Ph.D. student, in the Department of Industrial Engineering, School of Business Administration, Northeastern University, Shenyang, P.R. China. He was a visiting scholar at Purdue University from Dec. 1, 2015, to Mar. 26, 2017. He obtained his Master degree in Human Factors from Northeastern University in 2014. His research interests include Human Factors, Kansei Engineering, User Experience Design, Human-Computer Interaction, Human-Robot Interaction and Smart Home System Design. Email: [email protected]/[email protected].

Vincent G. Duffy

Vincent G. Duffy is an associate professor from the School of Industrial Engineering at Purdue University. He obtained his Ph.D. in Human Factors from Purdue University in 1996. Professor Duffy has been chair or co-chair of twelve international conferences including four International Conferences on Human Factors and Ergonomics in Healthcare held jointly with Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics International (AHFE). He was the chair for six conferences on Digital Human Modeling and Applications in Health, Safety, Ergonomics and Risk Management held as part of Human-Computer Interaction International since 2007. His research interest includes Digital Human Modeling, Safety Engineering, Work Methods and Measurement and Ergonomics. Email: [email protected].

Yi Ding

Yi Ding is a lecture from the Department of Industrial Engineering at Anhui Polytechnic University, Wuhu, China. He has a Ph.D. degree in Management Science and Engineering from the Northeastern University, Shenyang, China. His main areas of interest and expertise are user experience measurement and innovation, cognitive ergonomics and development of quantitative and qualitative research methodologies for examination of interaction with innovative products and information systems, and mental workload. E-mail:[email protected]