Forum Moderators: Robert Charlton & goodroi
Today we're helping people get better search results by extending Personalized Search to signed-out users worldwide
That's a staggering statement meaning that every computer accessing Google is now being personalized, signed in or not, so any desktop, laptop or kiosk will start tracking everything everyone does and you won't be able to access the same search results from any two machines.
The possible impact to all is staggering.
Every webmaster should be removing any Google search boxes, monetization, etc from their sites immediately
easy to say, isn't it. don't you see that almost every webmaster became a webmaster through Google search boxes and gained monetization experience.
I personally am against this personalized search of GORG but that doesn't mean it's impossible to disable it for good. one simple and effective way is to use Linux+Konqourer.
Take the recent public DNS example, on here it was met with general suspicion. Elsewhere it was this really cool new tool to use.
Any idea that this will be met with a negative reaction by the mainstream Internet user seems to suffer from a bit of SEO tunnel vision.
This is just the beginning. Webmasters typically have a way to communicate with their (often main stream) users. They write blogs. They link to interesting and concerning stuff all the time. Looking at the reaction on this forum, this might be the final drop that was needed...
OTOH, you are right - if noone is writing about this, then noone will notice.
if someone searches for 'widgets' today, and starts using the top site regularly, then presumably that site will weight highly in his personalised search. if a new site then makes a stab at the top spot, he might never see it, because his personalised search is still weighting the one he used in the past.
the serps are going to lock in sites that you've already interacted with.
it's like flipping open the yellow pages, only to have it fall on the same well-worn page everytime.
I was reviewing stats this morning for my volunteer sites and smaller clients and was struck with all of the traffic coming from Google. In a large sense, in many subject areas, Google is the web.
What this is going to mean:
1) Ads on Google search will have more value to the marketer. If you are buying ads on Google now, what you are paying for those ads got much more "reasonable."
2) Ads on Google will have more value for the consumer. Ads on the search engine will be where you see something different, more than ever.
3) SEO is a new game.
4) Alternative search engines (Yahoo, Bing and Ask) have got to be thrilled with this announcement. If you've been disturbed (as many here are) with the power Google has over your market--this could be a break.
5) Despite the point made in #4, this will make Google more money. And, they are, after all, a business.
Yeah, it's new and different. Change is hard. The consumer is going to have to adjust and they are awful at "adjusting." People are a creature of habit. (Irony alert: Just below this thread on the WW front page is a thread on how webmasters forced themselves to use Bing for several weeks. That says a lot. Now you have a reason to visit Bing and Yahoo search.)
All in all, it's going to be difficult to adjust, but in the long term it's good for the web and for Google.
Now you WWers have something to say to your non-geek friends that they really, really need to hear. But, they'll still think you're a boring geek, so don't get exciting about becoming interesting and popular.
Google sometimes seems like a once cute baby who grew to be seven feet tall by the time he went to kindergarten. Naturally he hurts the other kids -- he can't adapt to his growth spurt. Twenty thousand geeks are running amok with all their cool ideas, and their attention for their effect on anyone else is not deep enough.
That was awesome !
My dream has come true, to finally see this site's members being allowed to say something negative about goog and have it posted! I can't believe it!
A long time coming. It's amazing how things go in cycles. It used to be MSFT that was hated. Now i'm reading about webmaster switching to Bing.
Personally, I hate the gorg. I've spent the last 2 years working my way off the adsense crack pipe with a shift to a direct sales model. It has not been easy. They got me hooked in late 2003 with big FAT checks. Plug in some code and send me a check. Proud to say that i'm nearly off. Once that's done I could give a F about there search results. At that point I no longer have any association with them.
