We’ve known for a long time that content which appears above the fold on a web page gets significantly more attention than information which requires the reader to physically move.

In fact, Jakob Neilsen analyzed over 57,000 instances of users looking at something on a screen and reported in 2010 that web users will spend 80% of their time looking at the information above the fold.  His primary conclusion was that “the material that’s the most important for the users’ goals or your business goals should be above the fold”.  If for no other reason then this should be your incentive to appear at the top end of a SERP.

There is a clear correlation between being above the fold and driving conversions.

How do you know where the ‘fold’ is on a web page though?  Given the ever increasing number of devices that customers use this is a very relevant question. Mobile platforms have relatively small displays, while desktops monitors continue to get bigger. Browsers aren’t necessarily following the getting bigger trend. The width and length of the page viewed on devices is different.

Well there is good news on this front.  Google announced this week that they have added a new information layer in Google Analytics called In-Page Analytics that now allows you to view what parts of your page are visible to what percentage of your visitors. It’s a slick tool that allows you to understand how browser sizes are distributed. You can also compare the pages within your website to see where you are driving conversions from.  You should analyze this data and adjust the content and design of your pages to optimize your layouts.

Bringing this back to success with your PPC account it’s clear that the using and understanding Google’s free analytics tools is more important than ever.  You, and your marketing team, need to have a clear understanding of who your market is and where they are looking for you.  Optimizing your accounts for time of day and geographic location is not enough. You have to take into account the platforms your customers are using for searches, and then use this information to design your page layouts to take advantage of the ‘real estate’ available on their screen.

Finally you need to stay in your budget.  As always, we’re here at WordWatch to help you with that.