What do people do when they get to your website? They scan what’s on the page. Some skim. Fewer still, read.

And now?  They ask AI to summarize it.

Don’t be discouraged.  You can’t change how people behave.

But you can format your content to match how people actually read online. Whether people read it themselves or ask AI to help, good formatting works. As AI search engines become more prominent, creating content that works for both human readers and AI systems is increasingly important.

Three research experts at Nielsen Norman Group published the remarkably detailed 355-page report: How People Read on the Web: The Eyetracking Evidence.  It’s old but the lessons still work.

A Guide for B2B Content Marketers: It’s fascinating how this pre-AI research remains highly relevant in today’s AI-driven world. The principles that help people scan and read content also improve AI comprehension.

Scanning 1, 2, 3

Of course, you want your website visitors to take it all in, gather the big picture, appreciate the details, and understand all that you have to offer. Again, they typically don’t.

People read as little as possible on your website. They make quick judgments about what to read, skim, or ignore. Sometimes they don’t read it at all. They hand it to ChatGPT.   Either way, they’re deciding in about 8 seconds.

According to this report, people scan in one of three different ways:

• Motivated scanners need quick proof your content delivers value. Use clear headlines and bullet points to show immediate benefits.
• Directed scanners search for specific information. Make key terms bold and use descriptive subheadings they can spot instantly.
• Impressionable scanners browse with open minds. Hook them with compelling visuals, interesting statistics, and engaging opening lines.

There’s a Fourth Way Now: AI Does the Reading

AI tools are doing the reading for people. Browser extensions summarize articles. ChatGPT pulls key points from web pages. Built-in AI assistants answer questions without people actually reading.

Does this kill the need for good formatting? Nope. Makes it more important.

AI scans your page like humans do. It looks for headlines, structure, clear organization. If your content is messy, the AI summary will be messy too.

We don’t scan search results like we used to either.

Before a visitor even lands on your site, AI tools like ChatGPT and Google’s AI Overviews are already scanning and summarizing your content. Instead of reviewing multiple organic links, users zero in on the top summary. If your content isn’t structured clearly or doesn’t make it into that box, it may never be seen.

Different page types have different dynamics

Most website pages fit into three categories.

(1) article or blog pages
(2) category pages
(3) search engine result pages (SERPS).

Let’s take a look at how they differ to the page scanners you hope to slow down and appeal to.

Article pages

Article or blog pages organize text in paragraphs within single columns. Readers scan these pages to confirm the content matches their interests.

Category pages

These pages tend to have smaller blocks of copy often covering more than one topic and featuring images, videos, lists, etc. Most homepages and blog or event overview pages would qualify.

Readers will look for headings and features that are visually called-out. The visual layout and structure of content blocks determines how people scan the page.

Search engine results pages

Readers scan SERPs looking at the titles of the results and bolded words.

• People spend 1.5 seconds on average looking at a search result.
• Unsurprisingly, the majority of people scan sequentially from the top down.

The research shows 40% of the total time on a SERP is spent on the top three organic results.

The number one reader repellant

In about 8 seconds, a user decides if your page is worth their time. Shorter attention spans make that first look really important. Whether someone reads it or asks AI about it.

Readers judge your content’s value in seconds. The biggest turn-off? Walls of text.  Let’s look at how to avoid the problem.

Important keys for effective formatting

The report clearly establishes the keys to formatting a web page to get a reader’s attention and increase their interest in reading. Let’s run through the most important tips it offers.

Headlines top the list (and the page)

The most important thing you can do is present meaningful headlines and sub-headers that pop off the page more so than the body text. Apply the following tips:

• Make headlines and subheads visually distinct from body text. Use larger fonts, bold formatting, or different colors to create contrast.
• Make headlines descriptive enough to work in AI summaries.
• Page titles give readers a sense of the page’s main topic. Assure your reader they’re on the page they hoped to go to by giving each page a concise title that instantly orients them.
• Make your headlines and subheads descriptive of the content that will follow.
• Choose interesting and provocative words.

Get to the point

Readers bail—or at best, scan—when the first paragraph doesn’t offer useful information. It’s also going to be your most read paragraph. AI tools usually grab this paragraph first for summaries. Make it count.

Think “top-down” and feed readers information in order of importance. As you would expect, readership declines with each paragraph. Journalists are taught to write in an “inverted pyramid,” meaning all the content is presented in order of importance.

Create lists

Skimmers love lists. Offer them.

1. Bulleted lists attract the eye. Research shows people examine 70% of bulleted lists they see.
2. Keep the lists short and narrow. Be concise.

Consider tables

• Include descriptive headings.
• Be conservative with the amount of copy.
• Make your tables easy to scan.

Present narrow columns

Readers consume more content when the columns of copy are narrow. They’re simply easier to read. Think newspapers where column width is very narrow.

Rule of Thumb: Keep column text under 15 words per line for better readability.

Think links

Readers like links. Even if they don’t click, they’re drawn to them.

• AI tools often follow links to understand your content’s context and authority.
• Readers not only use links to click but to get a sense for what the content is about. Links act as visual callouts.
• Links need to look different. People should know they can click them.
• A “click here” link tells AI tools nothing. Same for people.

Example of highlighting text when the content links to another page: 3 Mistakes That Will Slash your Website Lead Generation Opportunities

Things that attract eyeballs

We know that eyeballs bounce all over the page. The report claims the elements readers look for as they scan in a “spotted” pattern include:

• Bolded words
• Words in different colors
• Numbers
• Words in all capital letters
• Long word
• Words in quotation marks
• Words above, below, or beside any of these elements.

Use Key sentences that work as standalone quotes (AI extracts these for summaries)

Modern takes on this readability stuff

This research shows how people behave. Attention spans dropped from 12 to 8 seconds since 2000. But people’s brains work the same way. These tips help whether someone reads your page or has AI summarize it.

• Put key information early—AI tools extract from opening paragraphs
• Write clear topic sentences that help readers and AI identify main points
• Make content valuable even when AI-summarized

And now, I want to offer even more tips I’ve discovered that help turn scanners into readers—or at least, increase engagement.

• Show images, GIFs, infographics, and video.
• Add captions. Skimmers’ eyes are drawn to captions.
• Write short paragraphs and sentences. Keep articles long but make them visually appealing. Easy-to-scan content performs better.
• Use white space generously.
• Mix up column widths. Use the modern tricks of the trade to offer variety with grids, and slightly unpredictable rows and columns that break up the monotony of the page.
• Insert quotes and elements that are easy to share such as “click to tweet.”

We use this heat mapping tool from CrazyEgg to track activity on a web page. Set up a free trial and monitor reading depth and click activity. It’s an awesome tool.

Whoa… You made it to this last paragraph.

I doubt you read the first paragraph first, so I must have done something right. Review this post and its tips.

Apply them.

A page that’s easy on the eyes gets read more thoroughly. It also gets summarized more accurately by AI tools.