Above the Fold

The area of a web page which is visible to a visitor before scrolling down. The content appearing in the above-the-fold area is considered to be pivotable in the visitor's decision whether to remain on the page, scroll down, or exit the page.

Is content above the fold more important than content below the fold?

In the past, web designers created web pages with the most important elements above the fold. The reasoning was that people assumed that website visitors don't scroll below the fold. However, smartphones and social media feeds have changed the way people use the internet as a whole. People are now more likely to scroll than ever, making content below the fold more likely to be seen. However, content above the fold is still important, as it makes the first impression.

What is considered above the fold?

It is impossible to give an exact pixel measurement for above the fold, due to the variations in screen resolution and browser size. However, web designers agree that on average the above the fold area is 1000 pixels wide and 600 pixels high on desktop.

How does above the fold affect SEO?

 

Google stated in 2012, that web pages that have excessive ads or giant images that push content below the fold are bad for user experience. They also stated that these sites may not rank as highly. Also, pages that rank below the fold on the Google SERPs get on average a 30% lower click-through rate than pages that rank above the fold on page one.

Check out our Above the Fold Ranking SEO guide
Check out our CTR study: The Difference Between Ranking Above and Below the Fold

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