Search Engine Strategies/San Jose kicked off Monday in high fashion with a number of repeat and new sessions, including some fresh search behavior data. Here are some of the highlights:

1. If you can afford it, get the top paid positions on search engines like Google and do what you can to secure the top spot among the organic listings.  Oliver Deighton, Product Marketing Manager for Google, detailed a new search behavior study and the brand recall lift that can be achieved with such a strong presence that can also increase the purchase consideration.

2. Gord Hotchkiss of Enquiro Search Solutions Inc. (and a pioneer in eye tracking studies) talked about the effects of Google Universal Search. In the past, the now famous Golden Triangle (searchers focus on the upper left hand corner of a results page) may be impacted by results that now include images and not just plain text. The Golden Triangle that looks like an F turns into an E with what Hotchkiss called “chunking.” The results page from an eye movement perspective is viewed more in sections. A visitor may very well start at the top, but the image appearing with a result catches their attention. Once they see it, they take time to read the description adjacent to the image before viewing other parts of the page.

3. Representatives of the major search engines suggested that traditional “ranking signals” they use can apply to how videos are ranked among search results. One discussion focused on video titles, comments and views – the overt and somewhat implied consensus being that all of those factors matter.

Search Engine Land has full coverage with links to notes taken during each presentation.