The influence of snippet length on user behavior in mobile web search: An experimental eye-tracking study
Aslib Journal of Information Management
ISSN: 2050-3806
Article publication date: 26 April 2019
Issue publication date: 13 June 2019
Abstract
Purpose
Web search is more and more moving into mobile contexts. However, screen size of mobile devices is limited and search engine result pages face a trade-off between offering informative snippets and optimal use of space. One factor clearly influencing this trade-off is snippet length. The purpose of this paper is to find out what snippet size to use in mobile web search.
Design/methodology/approach
For this purpose, an eye-tracking experiment was conducted showing participants search interfaces with snippets of one, three or five lines on a mobile device to analyze 17 dependent variables. In total, 31 participants took part in the study. Each of the participants solved informational and navigational tasks.
Findings
Results indicate a strong influence of page fold on scrolling behavior and attention distribution across search results. Regardless of query type, short snippets seem to provide too little information about the result, so that search performance and subjective measures are negatively affected. Long snippets of five lines lead to better performance than medium snippets for navigational queries, but to worse performance for informational queries.
Originality/value
Although space in mobile search is limited, this study shows that longer snippets improve usability and user experience. It further emphasizes that page fold plays a stronger role in mobile than in desktop search for attention distribution.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This study was supported by eye square with premises, technical equipment and expertise in eye-tracking technology.
Citation
Sachse, J. (2019), "The influence of snippet length on user behavior in mobile web search: An experimental eye-tracking study", Aslib Journal of Information Management, Vol. 71 No. 3, pp. 325-343. https://doi.org/10.1108/AJIM-07-2018-0182
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited