Evidence Content Optimisation

Users scan pages rather than read them (F-pattern)

Nielsen Norman Group eye-tracking research shows users scan web content in F-shaped and layer-cake patterns rather than reading word by word.

ID
SS-EV-015
Confidence
Established · 84
Evidence
Established
Updated
2026-07-08

The claim

Readers scan rather than read, so front-loaded answers, informative headings and scannable structure materially affect comprehension and engagement.

What the evidence shows

NN/g's eye-tracking studies document the F-pattern and layer-cake scanning behaviour, where users fixate on the first words of lines, headings and the top of content. This supports front-loading key information, writing descriptive subheadings and using structure that serves scanning - the same structure that also aids machine extraction.

Source

Source
Nielsen Norman Group UX research
Type
Academic research
Year
2017
Strength
Strong

How SearchScore applies it

Recommended next steps

    Apply the method Citation Engineering Framework Framework Diagnose the symptom Featured Snippet / AI Answer Loss Pattern See the wider capability Existing Asset Optimisation Capability