Monday
Dec212009
What Do They See?
SteveNOTE: This guest post is by the great Ben Eubanks of UpstartHR. Take it away, Ben.
Let's start with a visualization, shall we? A prospective applicant stops by your career site. They try to search for a job, but they can't find out how. They finally see the little button to search, but when they get to the next page, there doesn't seem to be a way to apply for the position. Disgusted, the applicant turns away from your site and files you away as a "don't even try to apply" in their mind. You've been discarded before you were even in the running.
Is that fair? Is it your fault that they were unable to find out how to apply to your job postings? Well, it may not be, but with a new Google tool, you may be able to see that problem and correct it before other candidates end up the same way.
Google Browser Size is a new tool cooked up by Google's amazing engineers. If you go to this site and plug in your site's URL, you can check how much of your site people can see on their browsers. How does this affect you? Well, if the majority of people can't see how to apply, there's a good chance they won't apply.
Check out the Browser Size tool and test it on your own site. You may be surprised at what you find out. When I looked at my own site, I saw that about 50% of my visitors don't see all the way across my site horizontally. I could be missing some feed subscriptions from those people simply because they can't see my button.
To compare that same issue with Steve's site, you can see that more than 80% of his visitors can see his subscription button without having to scroll. I'd be willing to bet that his subscription rate is higher than mine simply on that measure alone. Plus, more than 90% get a glimpse of his HR Happy Hour logo right off the bat. How's that for promoting the show?
In the post on the Google blog, one of the project engineers talked about how they discovered the problem through their own Google Earth download page. Although a large number of people were visiting the page, there was a significant difference in the number of hits on that page and the number of software downloads. They tested the site with the Browser Size tool and saw that about 10% of people couldn't see the button to download the program.
Ten percent doesn't sound like much, but if your organization gets 1000 hits on your career page per day, that's 100 people who never even apply (assuming they had planned to). Are you sure you want to be turning them away before you get a chance to see their qualifications?
Ben Eubanks is an HR professional from Huntsville, AL. He lives much of his life online. Don't believe it? Catch him on LinkedIn, Twitter, RocketHR, or via email. His blog, UpstartHR, is about many things, including HR, leadership, and zombies.
Reader Comments (12)
Ben- This is an interesting tool I had not heard about. I think it's great that you showed a comparison for us. I'd imagine that after this you will see sites begin to change their look purely based on the feedback they receive from using this tool. I know I will rethink my blog and I'm planning to share with my employer as well. Thanks. And, thanks to Steve for hosting.
Remember to resize your window so that your site is filling the window from left to right.
If you have a site the resizes based on the users settings it will appear different than what the google image shows.
In both examples you have 150 pixels to the left that would not show in someone's browser if they had a low resolution setting. Your site would be flush left and would not have the space.
Very. very interesting and great information. . .there may be a site redesign on my horizon, actually there is but I just haven't had a chance to get to it. Then, I'll try figure out what Paul is referencing above too! Nice job Ben - as always.
Ben - great find. Interesting to note that even using Google's own blogging platform my site isn't at 90% (it's barely 80%). Thanks for sharing with the masses
@Trish-It's nice for some quick feedback, but like Paul mentions in his comment, it certainly depends on what your monitor settings are, too. Some people come to my site telling me that everything is too small. Others say everything is too large. I try to hit the majority with something and the rest need to get a better screen. :-)
@Paul-You're a big research guy... Any idea what the average user has their screen set on? That could be pretty darn valuable info to have.
@Lisa-You have to stop putting things off! Call me. Email me. Tweet me. Just do it. It's like a band-aid. Hard and fast is the best way to go. :-)
More than happy to, Bryon. Google's blogging platform is surprisingly sucky in many ways. Good thing you have the content to counteract that. ;-)
cool! just tested it on my blog. i meet the cutoff (phew). another point to consider is whether you're using design to grab attention, since that plays a huge role in whether we see something or not. using my own blog as a case in point -- i think my subscribe (in text form) needs to be changed to the more instantly recognizable subscribe icon.
f
Your google analytics or other site tracking software should show you what your visitors are set on - mine go about 40% 1280x1024 about 30% 1024x760 and the rest below that.
My comment above on the size has nothing to do with resolution. What I am referring to is that at higher resolutions you show more "screen" real estate. If you site only covers say 800pixels wide but you have a screen that shows 1280 - the site will "center" on your monitor leaving a band on each side equal to about 200 pixels. When you look at the google overlay it gives you a false reading on what your site actually will look like on lower resolution monitors. Resize your window so that the site is flush to the left and move the right side until you see your entire site. That will be the "real" amount of space people will see at their respective resolutions.
Paul, I just realized what you're saying. I was a wee bit confused (haven't had enough Dew this morning). Thanks for clearing that up. :-)
Ben - excellent post that obviously struck a chord with the readers as evidenced by all the comments.
Paul, Lisa, Trish, Bryon, and Fran - thanks very much for reading and sharing your thoughts
Steve/Ben - Great information to share with everyone and I agree with Paul that you need to size your window with your site flush to the left to get the most out of this Google tool.
Based on the information conveyed using this tool, does anyone have any thoughts on if your blog posts should be in 1st column on the left or if your RSS feed button and other information such as blog archive should be in the 1st column?
Mike - You get the feelng that putting the subscription information on the upper left might make some more sense. I may switch it over to the left to see if it makes a difference.