Banner blindness
Banner blindness is the tendency of people to ignore, consciously or not, the parts of a page that look like advertisements
What it means, how it is used and where it comes up, with its related concepts.
What it is and how it works
The term was popularised by usability studies in the late 1990s, and eye-tracking research has repeatedly confirmed it: people’s gaze avoids areas and shapes associated with ads, such as sidebars and eye-catching rectangles.
It affects ads but also useful content that resembles them, such as an important notice styled like a banner. In advertising it has driven more integrated formats such as native advertising, which must still be labelled as ads. In interface design, relevant information should not be made to look like an advertisement.
Also known as
Ad blindness
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