Web users losing patience with bloated websites

Do you want to take a survey? Would you like to see some related links? Would you care to engage in some social networking during your visit? According to veteran web usability expert Jakob Nielsen, Internet users are becoming increasingly tired of such distractions as they use search engines to find the specific page they want, then vanish from the site without additional time spent there.

Nielsen calls the new web paradigm a "hot potato" mentality: You start with a search engine, click directly on the page you're looking for, get what you need from it, and leave. Today, only about 25 percent of users start their journey on the home page of a website, according to Nielsen. The vast majority now drop in directly from a search link.

In referring to web users as "ruthless," Nielsen describes a growing concern with distractions and errors on web pages. Widgets and extras like chat features and social networks are more and more likely to frustrate and anger users, he says, rather than engage them into spending more time on a site. "People want sites to get to the point, they have very little patience," he says in the BBC story linked below. "[Site owners] still feel that their site is interesting and special and people will be happy about what they are throwing at them."

The message for website owners is clear: Make sure the information on your web pages is easy to read and uncluttered by lots of extra junk. Ensure you're doing everything possible to be visible to search engines. And if you've got pages that don't work, dead links, or 404 errors, be prepared to suffer the wrath of your users.