The Geometry of Web Search

摘要

This paper introduces the concept of a search geometry to describe the eye behaviour of users searching with different tasks across multiple sites. To validate the concept, we present results from an eye tracking study of four common tasks on three different Web portals. The findings show a consistent search geometry that describes eye behaviour across the different sites and tasks. The geometry illustrates that a small set of page regions account for a large proportion of eye movements. The results are briefly discussed in relation to theories of information foraging and information scent.