Recently I wanted to test which search engine used browser real estate in the user’s favor most efficiently? Which of them forced users to scroll to see the results more often or find the content sandwiched between multiple ads?

My unscientific, emotional reaction was that Google was the best at presenting the user with the least amount of discomfort, so I decided to test comparable measurements between the big search engines (Google, Yahoo and MSN). Later, I decided to expand the search to Ask Jeeves and a few of the popular blog search engines as well. At the end I’ll throw in some tips for your own website/blog.

Test parameters
I used the program Screen Calipers (free limited version with nag or full version for $19.50) to measure the amount of pixels between the uppermost section just below the browser toolbar section, where the webpage HTML begins and the beginning of the first row of results. Here were my findings with the asterisk denoting the accompanying screenshot:

Google - when signed in with preferences there is a whole new line at the top right — no advertising. Google does advertise with some keywords above the web results but it is more uncommon than the other search engines.

140 pixels - no search history results, keyword: car
*194 pixels - with Sponsored Link above web results, keyword: sponsor
247 pixels - with search history results. You would need to use Google personalize and have search results to test this one. Depending on the number of keywords, this could take up more space, but this is all related content.

However, it is more likely that users will experience the 140 pixels screen that looks like in the screenshot shown at the top of this post.

Yahoo - Note the alternate keywords chosen pushes the list down, the longer search URL window and the MyWeb search results. There is some white space that could be eliminated and better organization of this space overall could be employed. Finally, many common keyword combinations contained advertisements above the web results making Yahoo a less pleasurable search experience overall (constant need to scroll to see results). If the user is interested in the top five results scroll would be necessary in the majority of cases. The ad intrusion experienced was the most severe of the tested search engines.

219 pixels - without Yahoo recommendations, no ads
*501 pixels - with keyword(s) that have advertising, keyword: car

MSN - that blue header image is an eye sore and eats up a few extra pixel. There has to be some spacing between the blue header and overly large ‘Web Results’ text, Beneath that larger font orange word is the estimation of number of results. And then comes the sponsored sites section and then … then, finally, comes the first search result. Though not the worst, they are a close second to Yahoo for ad intrusion above the web results.

132 pixels - no ads, keyword: megalomaniac
*285 pixels - with keyword(s) that have advertising, keyword: car
414 pixels - with keyword(s), advertising and music tie-in, keywords: black sabbath

Ask Jeeves - red, white and black color scheme, advertising on the top of web results and to the right with traditional two-pane design. Ask Jeeves is actually pretty good about the space above the web results, sometimes even offering helpful information like Google does.

150 pixels - keyword(s) without advertising, no spelling suggestion (dorman+angel)
188 pixels - keyword(s) without any advertising, includes spelling suggestion (tdavid)
366 pixels - keyword(s) that have advertising (car)
468 pixels - with “black sabbath” showing an artist picture and short bio, two “sponsored web results” above the web results.

Blog search
Feedster - traditional two-pane style with advertising on the right and search results on the left.
166 pixels for “dynamite” exclude msn.com
386 pixels for “black sabbath”

Technorati - three pane style, advertising on left, Flickr, Buzznet and links content on the right.
345 pixels for “car” and results column is 418 pixels (three pane style)

IceRocket - two pane traditional with “sponsored” results on the right.
273 pixels, keyword: car

Google Blogsearch - pretty similar to the main Google search except a related blogs section appears which is of dubious usefulness.
176 pixels for “car” with two related blogs, no advertising.

Analysis
This test might help explain why Google just feels more useful by the way that the user is presented with more content (search results) than ads, even though they run text ads on both the top and right side. When MSN returns results with no ads they actually have the fewest pixels (132 to Google’s 140), but the problem is too many results have ads that eat up this space so the user won’t experience this enough times (hint, hint). Yahoo is the worst when it comes to using the space above the web results; some of the space is used for MyWeb results which is helpful for those who use MyWeb, but most is used for advertising space.

Users primary purpose for using a search engine is not to view ads, they come to view results for their query. When there is a limited amount of pixel space available it must be utilyzed primarily for content, not ads. Of the 579 pixels available for content, Google chose to use only 140 of that the majority of the time for non web search results space (24.17%) whereas Yahoo chose to gobble up 37.8% in their best case scenario and a disturbing 86.5% in their more common worst case scenario. The common MSN search results utilyzed nearly half (49.2%) of the available search result space.

As for Blog Search: Feedster and Google were pretty close with space above search results being kept to a minimum, the smallest amount of space used going to Feedster. Techonrati was the worst about offering search results in a viewable window. Three pane design for search results is not the optimal user experience.

These same tests can be run on your own websites and blogs. And should be in some cases because some websites on page load you have to scroll to see any content. Huge, complex logos might be ok for a designer’s site or a site about huge beautiful logos, but not for Joe Surfer stopping by. As for blogs, don’t waste the space at the top for gigantic logos, use that space for navigation, a small logo and possibly and ad.

Practicing what you preach
Wondering if MakeYouGoHmm was tested? Absolutely: 129 pixels to the content for the first blog entry on the homepage, 111 pixels to the date for the first blog entry if one wants to be real picky. To be fair, I did change the section on the homepage recently so it would have been more like 175 pixels to the content, but I still think anything in the 200 or less range is within the acceptable range for most users.

MakeYouGoHmm uses a three-pane style interface (460 pixels for middle content column) with some advertising like Technorati and a two pane traditional style for search results with no advertising. 87 pixels are used for the header section which I think really is about as wasteful as most sites should be (yes, there are exceptions). Any more than 100 pixels for the masthead section and the user is having to scroll for content. Most won’t scroll, unfortunately, they will move on if they don’t see something interesting in the first 500 pixels. When over 20% of that space is used for something asthetically pleasing that cuts down on available space for whatever they came to interact with, read or view.

In closing, these test results indicate that the search engines analyzed could all improve, even Google which has a very minimalist approach. How much vertical space is your website using?

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