Eye Tracking Study on Baidu and Google

Written by Tangos on June 19, 2007
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About two weeks ago, when a survey report on search engine blind test by China IntelliConsulting (CIC) said that more users thought Google’s search results are better than those of Baidu (48.2% vs. 39.7%), the report was questioned by many people. But an eye tracking study on Baidu and Google may support the conclusion of CIC’s report.

According to the study, it took users about half the time (30 second vs. 50 second) to find what they are looking for in using Google. “In Google, most users didn’t scan behind the fourth listing, whereas on Baidu, they scanned right to the bottom of the page. It should also be noted in the Baidu example on the left, the large number of red X’s (indicating mouse clicks) on the top search query box and the suggested searches at the bottom. This indicates that there wasn’t a very high success level on Baidu.”

One of the reason on the difference of eye tracking study is that the results of Baidu is worse than those of Google, because Baidu mixes paid listings and organic search results, which pushing organic search results down the page and make them difficult to identify.

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2 Responses to “Eye Tracking Study on Baidu and Google”

  1. James Spencer on June 19th, 2007 5:42 am

    This is a really intriguing study, and I’ve put in a couple of posts on this.

    The real question is why is Google still being whipped?

  2. Allen on June 20th, 2007 12:56 am

    Very solid research, and undeniable results.
    Best product never guarantee market success.
    Thanks for sharing!

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