The pattern, not surprisingly, shows that most surfers start at the first result and scan downward, typically stopping before they hit the third item. And their eyes dart around like a hunting lizard's tongue -- just check out this video showing average eye movements around a page in real-time. The red dots get bigger as the eyes stayed in a single spot for longer.

Applying Eye-Tracking Principles

So what's all this mumbo-jumbo really about? Here's the deal: These eye-tracking principles can be applied to practically any page. Google uses them in everything from Google News -- learning which areas of the screen are most apt to grab your attention and placing links, ads, almost anything accordingly -- to Google Image Search, discovering whether the second row or the second column is most likely to catch your eye. If you found this story on the home page of PCWorld.com, then our site did something right in deciding where to place it. (Again, assuming you actually wanted to read it. If you didn't, you should really stop reading already.)

Will having this knowledge alter your life? Of course not. But it's some interesting insight into how something as simple as a search results page comes together -- and how anyone building a blog or Web site can take those same pattern-based concepts into consideration.

Hopefully, your eyes aren't too glazed over from the thought.