An eye-tracking study conducted by the Nielsen Norman Group finds that web users, in what is a manifestation of "banner blindness," tend to ignore bright, flashing banner ads and look at text advertising more than display ads, reports ClickZ. That is, users ignore distractions and focus on page content, but will more likely pay attention to a banner if it incorporates text using color, such as white text on red background, according to NNG Director of Research Kara Pernice Coyne.

Also, web users "do look at sponsored links on search pages and images on search pages," Pernice Coyne is quoted as saying. "They really look for words that match what they are searching for…. It's so important what you call your links in search results. Users don't give you a lot of chances." She adds that placing in the first few search results is very important.

NNG found that people read web pages in an F pattern, looking across the top then narrowing their focus toward the left as they go down a page - then up to the beginning. Images in the middle of the page, where display ads often interrupt the flow of text, are deemed "obstacles" and annoying, according to the research.