Dating Sites Profile Search Results, taking a closer look.

Lately most dating sites are using a new way to display search results to their single members. The old way was to display the matching profiles to your search request in rows, one after another. They included such information as:

• A Photo if available
• Location (Usually City, State/Province and Country)
• Gender and what gender you are seeking
• Your Age
• Relationship Status
• Your Username
• Headline
• When you were last online

From there you could do a number of things such as view the profile, add to favorites, send a wink and Instant Message (if the single is online). Most dating sites used a variation of this formula.

More recently sites have been allowing members to view search results in a new way called the Gallery Mode. Gallery Mode is basically showing users the very basic information about the single in a grid that could be 2 or 3 columns across by a user defined amount of rows. This allows the dating sites to show more users at a time and displaying just the critical information most members use to make a decision about viewing a profile. The basic information included is:

• A Photo
• Username or Headline
• Age
• Gender
• What they are looking for
• Location (Usually City, State/Province and Country)

The photo is the most prominently displayed item of the gallery display type and this is for good reason. Most people when searching for profiles look for the photo first. Most personal sites say that a profile will be viewed 8 to 10 times more than one with out a image. Quick search boxes on dating sites usually have an option to display profiles that just have pictures.

According to our own poll (at the time of writing this article) How important is a picture for a Dating Profile?, over 50% of singles will not even consider a profile without a picture and over 20% think it is a very good idea to have a photo. That means almost 70% of users of dating sites most likely will skip over a profile without an image. Combine this with the option of displaying profiles with pictures only and I hate to say it but profiles without photo's do not have a chance.

The only option usually available to members viewing profiles in Gallery Mode is to view the details of the profile and sometimes send a message or send a wink.

Which way is better Gallery Mode or the traditional row method, only time will tell. In my opinion, Gallery Mode I find sometimes lets profiles get lost in the results because there are to many images on the screen. I find it is almost better to just be able to scan down the page looking at each profile preview.