It is the first real piece of research on how site visitors see and absorb the contents of a page. They wanted content and information based on good headlines. Understandably, these readers were seasoned news readers with one purpose only - to get the latest news. But it does give an indication as to what the eye sees and latches on to. Even veteran readers of news sites are potential customers.
Internet users start out new but everyone has a purpose in visiting a web site.
Text and good copy are essential but of paramount importance is the headline and introductory text. The first thing read in the study was the caption. The research showed that the captions were read before the page was fully loaded. This would indicate the need to have text at the top of pages before large slow-loading images or banners. If the headline and early descriptive introduction is compelling it will keep the reader on the page for the main body content.