With web design trends ever-changing, and an increasing use of negative space, as well as people becoming more accustomed to scrolling, the way above the fold space is used has changed too. But what about its importance?
According to a recent study by the Nielsen Norman Group, users spend around 57% of their-page viewing time above the fold, with as much as 74% of viewing time being dedicated to the first two screenfuls. Whilst this has decreased from 80% of time spent above the fold back in 2010, it still accounts for a significant share of page viewing time, highlighting that despite changing user behaviours, the way you utilise above the fold space remains of vital importance.
On Your Website
Taking on board this fresh knowledge, how do you think your website is faring? What messages greet users when they arrive on your website and what information do they see above the fold?
Make sure to utilise this precious space to provide visitors with the most important information and call to actions. But be careful! That doesn’t mean you should start cramming as much as possible above the fold or saying goodbye to negative space for good.
It’s all about prioritisation and maximising the above the fold space on your website, whilst remaining consistent with your brand and web design.
Not sure how to do all that? Give our talented designers a call.
In SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages)
According to the aforementioned study, when it comes to page viewing habits on SERPs, people spend around 47% of viewing time in the top 20% of the page, and over 65% of viewing time in the top 40% of the page, meaning that appearing in the first results on search pages is just as important as ever.
However, with paid results accounting for the top spots, to which you can also add featured snippets or knowledge boxes when it comes to Google, just being number 1 in organic rankings may no longer be enough. If you want to dominate search pages and capture that precious viewing time, you need a joint strategy for both SEO and PPC, as well as focusing more on ways to take advantage of position 0 and knowledge boxes.
What Else You Can Do
Whilst this recent study measured a fairly comprehensive sample and is a good indication when it comes to the importance that above the fold space still holds, there’s more steps you can take to measure this for your own business.
For example, you can use Google Tag Manager’s scroll tracking events to measure vertical/horizontal scroll depth according to page dimension % or units. This can then give you additional insights into the behaviour of your audience, which you can use to improve their user experience, ensure that the most important information is placed strategically across your website, and ultimately support the growth of your conversion rates.
