How Do Users Read Website Content?

28.06.2024 A common question from clients opting for website creation services concerns the time users spend on a web page. Despite the highly dynamic field that constantly imposes new rules and trends, the answer has always been the same: not very long. Current research on user behavior shows that surfers quickly scan the text, looking for keywords that signal relevant content.
Harald Weinreich, Hartmut Obendorf, Eelco Herder, and Matthias Mayer conducted an empirical study in which they recorded the browser history of 25 distinct users during their usual online activities. The uniqueness and representativeness of the collected data are due to the completely neutral nature of the study, as the users were not given a specific task. The collected data were compared with various previous studies to verify their validity and detect any potential biases. This study provides a series of interesting and relevant revelations.
The back button is the third most used button on the web. Anchor text remains the most used feature, while click buttons have pushed the back button to third place, surpassing it in terms of clicks. This change is largely due to the increase in the number of applications and web pages that require users to access their functionality through a “click button.” Of course, the back function is still a lifeline for users who land on a page that does not offer relevant content, being considered from the website owner's perspective the biggest design mistake since 1999.
The study analyzed 45,237 web pages, excluding pages with a visit duration of less than 4 seconds (users left the site without using the page), pages where the visit lasted more than 10 minutes (in situations where the browser was left open without being used), and pages with less than 20 words (these are server errors or interrupted download activities). The total number of pages analyzed was 59,573. After selecting the relevant data, formulas were used to describe user behaviors for pages containing between 30 and 1,250 words.
Users tend to spend more time on pages with dense but relevant content. The most suitable formula shows that they spend 4.4 seconds for every additional 100 words. Assuming that in one minute 200 words are read, even 250 words by readers from this sample with higher education, we notice that at this reading speed, the user reads 18 words in 4.4 seconds. Thus, when opting to add verbiage to a page, consider that users will only read 18% of it.
On average, users allocated a fixed time of 25 seconds, plus the aforementioned 4.4-second increments. Additionally, the formula indicates that users spend part of their time getting used to the page layout, its functionality, and looking at pictures. On average, the most read pages contain around 593 words. Certainly, they do not read every second of the visit. However, if we assume that the time spent on a page is at the upper limit of reading time, we can simply calculate the hypothetical maximum number of words a user can read. We can thus conclude that users have time to read 28% of the content if they focus on reading. A more realistic approach shows that readers on average read 20% of the content if they focus on images and the page layout. Therefore, we must ensure that it provides the most relevant information closely related to the subject.

Source: Harald Weinreich, Hartmut Obendorf, Eelco Herder, and Matthias Mayer: "Not Quite the Average: An Empirical Study of Web Use."