By now we've all heard the mantra that visitors to Web sites don't read, they scan.  This drives the need to keep your copy concise, the Carewords research, and the 10-second rule. 

New research from Jakob Nielsen shows an even greater need to make sure your content gets to the point.

Nielsen's new usability studies show that on-line reading is characterized by an F-pattern.  That is, people will read most of the first line of copy, but the portion of successive lines read will be increasingly shorter.

In fact, Nielsen's research indicates that only the first 11 characters of a word string are needed for most users to understand content.

When is this most apparent?  When content is already abbreviated:

• Links and headings
• Search returns
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Product listings
• Lists of archived materials such as newsletters and media releases

For more information about the usability study - including examples of best and worst links, you can visit Nielsen's Alertbox.

I'm often asked to explain the difference between Carewords and a search term or keyword.  I have to admit that my explanations are often met with polite if confused stares. 

But to the rescue this week is Gerry McGovern, the creator of Carewords himself, with a clear, succinct post about the difference and why both are important. 

In brief, "The words we use when we search are not always the words we like to read when we arrive at a website."  Gerry points to recent research conducted by Online Language Pathways that shows that the "language of intent" during the search function varies from the language desired in the search results.  Users employ a more "mechanical dialect" when performing searches.

Gerry McGovern's blog posting this week cites an interesting study conducted by the Open University in the UK titled "Search is now normal behavior. What do we do about that?"

After all the emphasis on navigation, I've often struggled with this.  The Open University study opens with an often-repeated maxim: "Search represents a failure of navigation."  I couldn't disagree more.

As search engines have become more powerful and better able to deliver relevant results, it's little wonder that it has emerged as the dominant method of finding one's needle in a haystack.

And so it goes that it seems like more emphasis is now placed on search engine optimization than navigation.  In order for search to be effective, content developers need to pay even closer attention to those key words and phrases that resonate with their audience. 

The study finds the classic pattern of "sharp peak, long tail, and persistent themes."  This classic pattern is echoed in our own Carewords research: 

• A small number of popular terms
• A large number of infrequently used terms
• Even in the long tail, the most popular themes persist

A concept like Carewords not only helps you engage visitors once they're at your site, but it can help visitors find your site when using a search engine.  While Carewords are not search terms per se, they are related.  Not all search terms are Carewords, but many Carewords are search terms.

That said; ignore navigation at your peril.  Bad navigation can cause a visitor to click off of your site faster than you can say "Google."

So what does a content manager with limited resources do?  I would spend more time making sure you have relevant content that resonates and the most robust internal search functions you can.  Make sure your basic navigation works, and works well, but don't get wrapped around the axel making sure every little possibility is covered via navigation.

You can read the entire study:

Gerry McGovern's newsletter this week is an excellent discussion of how the Web is different from print.   Gerry succinctly outlines 6 ways the Web is different than print, and it echoes my often-repeated statement that the Web is all about pointing.

And speaking of Gerry and Carewords, I held a workshop last week in Davis with a group of Master Gardener coordinators and volunteers on incorporating our Carewords into their Web sites.

We jointly critiqued each Web site, and then made suggestions for content and navigational changes.  This workshop worked well for a variety of reasons - it was hands-on in a small group setting, and all of the participants were working in the same program area.  This last point was key.

If you think this kind of workshop would be of benefit to your group - contact me and we can discuss holding a workshop for you.

One of the workshop participants, David Alosi from the Napa County Master Gardeners, passed along an excellent primer on Search Engine Optimization - written my none other than some folks at Google!