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Does anyone else find that they've been trained by Google's positioning of sponsored links into ignoring the first few links on a search page? I bring it up bec

Does anyone else find that they've been trained by Google's positioning of sponsored links into ignoring the first few links on a search page? I bring it up because on the Duck Duck Go search page, I missed the link to Hacker News the first couple times I looked. I was so conditioned by Google's sponsored link placement, I was treating the third link as if it was the first. EDIT: Okay, I really don't like the positioning of the "official site" result. To me, it should be below the sponsored links, not above. The reason is that when you're searching for something where DDG doesn't have an "official site" entry, the first search result appears below the sponsored links. However, when DDG knows the "official site" for your search query, it places that result above the sponsored links. In practice, this means that you have to look in two places for the "first" result - above the sponsored links and below. Placing the "official site" result below the sponsored links would resolve this inconsistency.

m_for_monkey 15y ago
I tell you a secret: you can turn off the ads in the settings menu. I, personally, wouldn't mind the sponsored links if only they were relevant. Of course, if they were relevant, sponsoring wouldn't be necessary.
- rkudeshi 15y ago
  Thanks, I didn't know about that setting! I can only assume it won't be there forever for obvious reasons, but it's nice to have it for now (especially because of the UI issues mentioned elsewhere in this thread).
epi0Bauqu 15y ago
We've been fighting against this problem since we first launched. Our zero-click box has gone through several iterations with it in mind, and people kept skipping over it. This latest iteration I think (from user testing) does the best job so far of combating that unconscious inclination. That's interesting on official site placement. We thought it would be better for the user to put that official site link first (it's also in the zero-click info box btw). But it people think it should be below, I have no problem with that.
- jolan 15y ago
  The only major color on the page is the red navbar and the yellow sponsored ad. The sponsored ad draws my attention and then I go below it since it's an ad. The zero click info and official site badge are both grey which makes them fade away into the background; not stand out like intended.
  - notahacker 15y ago
    Given DDG's relatively ad-blind early-adopter audience, I reckon the sponsored link would get more attention if it wasn't highlighted in yellow (I don't think this is a "dark pattern" when the text "sponsored link" appears next to it - alternatively the sponsored status could be clearly but not obtrusively indicated with a badge similar to the "official site" badge)
- felideon 15y ago
  I'm no UI/UX expert here, but the official site does seem to get lost between the zero-click box and yellow sponsored result.
  - 54mf 15y ago
    I hesitate to call myself an expert at anything, but I'm an employed UX designer and yeah, it does get lost. At best, the eye is drawn to the yellow box, then to the "next" content below it. At worst, banner blindness kicks in and the user skips all the content above that yellow box. (This is what happened to me.)
- webnzi 15y ago
  I think it's great. It's not the "normal" UI that people expect - and that's a good thing. Google defined what everyone seems to be calling normal. If people make the switch to DDG they'll understand how the results work and what to expect.
  - bethling 15y ago
    It could stop people from switching though - I didn't see the "right" link when I went there - I just skipped past the yellow box like many people. That led me to get a feeling that the results weren't very good. It wasn't until I read the comments that I realized that I missed the link that I would have wanted, and the results were good. It's not ideal that people have been trained to subconsciously skip over certain results, but it's something that has to be accounted for. Otherwise you're going to leave the completely wrong impression in a significant portion of your potential users's minds.
ImprovedSilence 15y ago
I'd say one big reason I missed it at first was because there was no hacker news little orange [Y] box on the left side of the link. Scrolling further down the page, this logo appears on the second iteration of the HN link.
- joshuahedlund 15y ago
  Exactly. The lack of icon and description - which all the first few results below the sponsored link have - causes me to want to ignore the 'Official Site' result. If it had an icon I think I would be more likely to view the yellow as a break between the results rather than a separation between two different kinds of content.
  - epi0Bauqu 15y ago
    It should generally have an icon -- looks to be a caching bug.

m_for_monkey 15y ago

I tell you a secret: you can turn off the ads in the settings menu. I, personally, wouldn't mind the sponsored links if only they were relevant. Of course, if they were relevant, sponsoring wouldn't be necessary.

rkudeshi 15y ago
Thanks, I didn't know about that setting! I can only assume it won't be there forever for obvious reasons, but it's nice to have it for now (especially because of the UI issues mentioned elsewhere in this thread).

epi0Bauqu 15y ago

We've been fighting against this problem since we first launched. Our zero-click box has gone through several iterations with it in mind, and people kept skipping over it. This latest iteration I think (from user testing) does the best job so far of combating that unconscious inclination. That's interesting on official site placement. We thought it would be better for the user to put that official site link first (it's also in the zero-click info box btw). But it people think it should be below, I have no problem with that.

jolan 15y ago
The only major color on the page is the red navbar and the yellow sponsored ad. The sponsored ad draws my attention and then I go below it since it's an ad. The zero click info and official site badge are both grey which makes them fade away into the background; not stand out like intended.
- notahacker 15y ago
  Given DDG's relatively ad-blind early-adopter audience, I reckon the sponsored link would get more attention if it wasn't highlighted in yellow (I don't think this is a "dark pattern" when the text "sponsored link" appears next to it - alternatively the sponsored status could be clearly but not obtrusively indicated with a badge similar to the "official site" badge)
felideon 15y ago
I'm no UI/UX expert here, but the official site does seem to get lost between the zero-click box and yellow sponsored result.
- 54mf 15y ago
  I hesitate to call myself an expert at anything, but I'm an employed UX designer and yeah, it does get lost. At best, the eye is drawn to the yellow box, then to the "next" content below it. At worst, banner blindness kicks in and the user skips all the content above that yellow box. (This is what happened to me.)
webnzi 15y ago
I think it's great. It's not the "normal" UI that people expect - and that's a good thing. Google defined what everyone seems to be calling normal. If people make the switch to DDG they'll understand how the results work and what to expect.
- bethling 15y ago
  It could stop people from switching though - I didn't see the "right" link when I went there - I just skipped past the yellow box like many people. That led me to get a feeling that the results weren't very good. It wasn't until I read the comments that I realized that I missed the link that I would have wanted, and the results were good. It's not ideal that people have been trained to subconsciously skip over certain results, but it's something that has to be accounted for. Otherwise you're going to leave the completely wrong impression in a significant portion of your potential users's minds.

ImprovedSilence 15y ago

I'd say one big reason I missed it at first was because there was no hacker news little orange [Y] box on the left side of the link. Scrolling further down the page, this logo appears on the second iteration of the HN link.

joshuahedlund 15y ago
Exactly. The lack of icon and description - which all the first few results below the sponsored link have - causes me to want to ignore the 'Official Site' result. If it had an icon I think I would be more likely to view the yellow as a break between the results rather than a separation between two different kinds of content.
- epi0Bauqu 15y ago
  It should generally have an icon -- looks to be a caching bug.