Editing Banner blindness (section)

{{short description|Tendency to ignore banner-size notices}}
[[File:Banner blindness wikipedia example.png|thumb|The front page of a fictional Wikipedia article with several orange banner messages attempting to catch the user's attention]]
'''Banner blindness''' is a phenomenon in [[web usability]] where visitors to a [[website]] consciously or unconsciously ignore [[Web banner|banner-like]] information. A broader term covering all forms of advertising is '''ad blindness''', and the mass of banners that people ignore is called '''banner noise'''.

The term ''banner blindness'' was coined in 1998<ref>Benway, J. P.; Lane, D. M. (1998). [http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~lane/papers/banner_blindness.pdf "Banner Blindness: Web Searchers Often Miss 'Obvious' Links"] (PDF). Internet Technical Group, Rice University. Retrieved July 15, 2016.</ref> as a result of website usability tests where a majority of the test subjects either consciously or unconsciously ignored information that was presented in banners. The information that was overlooked included both external [[advertisement banner]]s and internal navigational banners, often called "quick links".

This does not, however, mean that banner ads do not influence viewers. Website viewers may not be consciously aware of an ad, but it does have an unconscious influence on their behavior.<ref>Lee, J., & Ahn, J. H. (2012). Attention to banner ads and their effectiveness: An eye-tracking approach. ''International Journal of Electronic Commerce'', ''17''(1), 119-137.</ref> A banner's content affects both businesses and visitors of the site.<ref name=":3">Lapa, C. (2007). Using eye tracking to understand banner blindness and improve website design.</ref> [[Native advertising]] and [[social media]] are used to avoid banner blindness.