Users typically read only the first couple of words of a website’s links or headlines when they appear in lists, such as search engine results, tables of contents, or product listings, according to usability expert Jakob Nielsen. In other words, most of the time they simply scan the list.

To learn how well readers comprehend what they’re scanning, Nielsen and his colleagues tested links from 20 websites representing a wide range of sectors: business-to-business, e-commerce, financial institutions, government, health care, and technology. Users were shown the first 11 characters of each link and asked to predict what they’d find if they clicked on it. They were also shown each truncated link mixed into a list of ten and asked to pick the one that would get them some piece of requested information. For example, one of the ten links led to Ann Taylor’s e-commerce site and users were asked to “purchase an Ann Taylor gift certificate.”

The best links squeezed “user- and action-oriented terms” into those all-important first 11 characters. The Ann Taylor link scored the best in the study because its full link text was “Gift Cards & E-Gift Certificates”-making the first 11 characters “Gift Cards .” Successful links also:

• Used plain language
• Used specific terminology
• Followed conventions for naming common features

Unsuccessful links pushed their most important information to the end. The worst-scoring link, for example, was one from Chase Bank whose full text read “Introducing Chase Exclusive Special Benefits for Checking Customers.” The first 11 characters-”Introducing”-gave users no hint about where the link might lead. Unsuccessful links also used bland or generic words, or even worse, made-up terms.

Nielsen points out that, in reality, users don’t always stop after the first 11 characters. If the first 11 characters catch their eyes, they will go on to read the rest of the link, which should more fully-and accurately-inform them about what they’ll get if they click and how it will be different from anything else they might find. But if the first 11 characters don’t give them most of what they need, they’ll never read the rest.

Posted in Framing content in print and on the Web, Marketing and promotion