Awareness Test and Inattention Blindness
Category: Search Engine Optimization | Tags: Content Strategy, avalanche email, business ideas, seo analogy
Learn More and Subscribe to The Avalanche Weekly Email
Today I’m talking about your awareness.
Do you remember this famous YouTube video from 15 years ago?
If you don’t remember this one, click the image or link above and watch it (it’s one minute long) then come back here.
** Spoiler Alert Ahead ***
If you remembered what to look for in this video, then you’ll have to try to recall the state of not knowing (remember the curse of knowledge I wrote about a few weeks ago?)
Because you were told to count the number of passes the white team makes, you did not notice the moonwalking bear.
This is called “inattention blindness” or “change blindness.”
We all have this.
We miss large changes in our visual field, especially when our attention is fixed on something specific.
What This Means For You & Marketing
It means that you can’t make any assumptions about what people see and how they’ll navigate information on your website or anywhere for that matter.
Zero. Zip. Zilch.
Inattention blindness makes it incredibly hard to get your audience to pay attention to the things you want them to pay attention to.
You may assume that:
- Your call to action is obvious.
- Your website is simple to navigate.
- You don’t have too much information on your site.
- You don’t have too little information on your site.
But you could still be creating a moonwalking bear situation.
To improve the chances that you capture the attention of your visitor and get them to take the action you desire, you need to do three things and then repeat consistently:
- Build
Write your content, design a landing page for it, and publish it. Then… - Measure
Get the right people to it, and watch how they behave with tools like Google Analytics, Microsoft Clarity, etc. - Learn
Learn from the data, screen recordings, etc., and hypothesize changes so you can start optimizing what you’ve built.
Repeat the process.
You may just find where your visitors have inattention blindness – where you are holding them back from taking the next desired action to becoming a new customer.
Share this article:
The Avalanche Email: Fun. Simple. Educational. No Selling.
Learn Result-focused SEO & Content
Join over 2,272+ others who get one email every Wednesday with simple instructions on how to get more website traffic and leads through SEO and content marketing. (Learn more about the email)
Keep Learning
🏔️ Avoid Everything That Doesn’t Move You Forward
Stop chasing shiny tools and refocus on what moves your marketing toward the end zone. Simple steps to cut noise and make steady progress.
🏔️ Stop Tuning the Race Car That Won’t Win a Race
Site speed won’t fix a weak message. Focus on clarity, trust, and real value first. Here’s how to build a website that actually works.
🏔️ Earning Preference > Tracking Visibility
Hi friend, Lance here. Today’s email is about a shift we’re seeing and feeling across marketing teams right now: We’re obsessed with tracking visibility but under-invested in earning preference. 🚨 The Problem Every marketer I talk to wants to know how their brand shows up in AI search, LLMs, and assistants. We’re running to new tools that track…
What’s the Best CMS for Landscaping Businesses?
Compare the best website platforms for landscapers. Learn the pros and cons of Wix, Squarespace, and WordPress, and why WordPress is best for long-term SEO.
🏔️ AI & Basketball
AI can generate content, but can it win the game? Learn why outputs ≠ outcomes in digital marketing, and how to use AI like a pro.