The Path to Click: Are You on It?

The authors investigate the information search process consumers are engaged in when visually inspecting search engine results pages (SERP). Eye-tracking data are collected and matched with the textual content of the SERPs. A computational cognitive model with static and dynamic utilities is developed to capture the inspection process. The results show that the scan paths are heterogeneous across consumers and are affected by section intrinsic preferences, the ranking of listings, and more importantly, the semantic environment. Both the content of listings and the textual information of previously viewed listings exert a significant impact on inspection patterns.

Transactional (price, promotion, store) and descriptive (attribute, quality, brand) information affect inspection decisions differently. The impact of ranking varies significantly across different screen compositions. The paper offers insights into the content design and optimal target rank selection on SERPs with respect to the content and location of search results from competitors.