People often jump around pages to read pages efficiently and quickly catch key contents, so users will not read all the content in an article; instead, they will use some reading habits, such as scanning headings, bulleted lists, and bold words, and will only spend only a few seconds to quickly browse page content to see whether their problem has been solved. "The way the user reads" refers to the route of the user's eye through the material on the page.

Advertisers must place crucial information exactly where visitors focus according to how they read through the page. This article will go over two popular reading styles and how visitors might use them to improve ad page design.

Common users' reading style I: F-type browsing mode

The F-shaped browsing pattern, proposed by NNGroup, is one of the most popular patterns in which the user's eyes scan the page at incredible speeds in just a few seconds. The following three components make up this design, which resembles the letter F.

• Page visitors will first read the page horizontally, starting from the top left corner ①, mainly along the upper part of the content area ②.

•  Next, the user will continue down to quickly browse ③, and then quickly along a second horizontal line when they find the content of interest ④. Usually, the content in this area is more concise.

•  Finally, the visitor navigates vertically through the left-hand page.

Throughout the process, users are constantly looking for content that they find attractive. Of course, the actual reading route of visitors is not necessarily a very precise F-mode.

Heat map of users from three different websites

Therefore, advertisers can put the most important content, such as images or copy, in F mode to ensure that they are seen by users.

Two cases of application of the F model：

• As shown in Case 3 below, the visitor's eyes will first see the headline and subhead. Next, with curiosity, they will continue to scan down the page, looking for the benefits they can bring, and eventually click on the CTA button on the page.

Case 3

The same F mode is utilized in example 4. Because the headline is in the largest type on the page, it is more likely to be noticed first, followed by the subheads and other information. Then, to make the landing page comply with the F-mode sequence, components such as the pickup button in the case can be added to ensure that users travel to the advertiser's main content and click on the CTA button as much as feasible.

Case 4

F mode is usually used for pages with more content, but it can certainly be applied to pages with less content.

Common users' reading style I: Z-type browsing mode

The Z page is usually applied to pages with little content centered around one or two main elements that encourage users to act by keeping the page simple and adding call-to-action elements.

It mimics the route of visitors' eye movements: first scanning from the top left corner ① to the top right corner ②, then scanning down and to the left ③ for information, and finally browsing to the right ④.

Similarly, the Z pattern used in the browsing process isn't always exact.

As a result, advertisers can post information that they want visitors to pay attention to in the top horizontal line region. The diagonal lines can be used to draw attention to material that encourages visitors to click on the CTA button. Also, the CTA button should be on the bottom horizontal line area.

Two cases of application of the Z model：

• The Lyft (one of Uber's biggest competitors) ad landing page in Case 5 is a good example of applying the Z model. The image below shows that visitors first see the Lyft logo at the top left and the "Sign up to ride" CTA button. Next, they continue along the diagonal to see the form title. Finally, visitors will see the "Lyft vs. Uber" headline at the bottom and the subheadings leading to the CTA button.

Case 5

• The Z pattern is also used in the LinkedIn example in Case 6. The title "Start hiring" and an image of a woman in HR are the first thing that visitors encounter in the horizontal space. Visitors will notice the 40% statistic in the Z's second diagonal and will continue to navigate from left to right to see the other two data. 

Case 6

LinkedIn utilizes a combination of two Z patterns to bring visitors' attention to the important content that convinces them to convert

Advertisers can employ a simpler, more natural method using both the F and Z patterns and allowing people to read the material all the way through without realizing, enhancing the speed of page design and conversion.

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