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.
Wouldn't it be simpler just to use another search engine?
Google's search results were superior to the rest, and they were also known to most. Google's raping away the time we spent learning their serps - and for what? Worse serps. So ya, people are angry - why are you surprised by that?
Wouldn't it be simpler just to use another search engine?You're blaming the victim.
I'm not "blaming" anyone. I'm merely pointing out what should be obvious.
As for Google's "raping away the time we [sic] spent learning their serps" (an unfortunate phrase, by the way), hasn't Google stated more than once--in its Webmaster Guidelines, for example--that it would rather see people design sites for users, not for search engines? Instead of being angry, wouldn't it be more sense to be pragmatic and figure out what to do next?
ADDENDUM: Someone suggested earlier that, with search rankings becoming less relevant, traffic (or Google referrals) should be the new metric for gauging SEO success. And why not? It wasn't that long ago that people were bragging about their PageRank in the Google toolbar's "fuel gauge." Nowadays, that metric has mostly bitten the dust (except for spam link-exchange requests aimed at the clueless). Fundamental SEO principles won't go away just because rankings aren't consistent for every user, so wouldn't it make sense to continue what you've been doing, track the results by measuring Google referrals, and educate clients to build sites that visitors like?
What I don't like or want is when researching the range of different jets then having half of my queries for the rest of the day relate to airplanes no matter what I'm searching for.
What I don't undeststand is why are you being so defensive about it? Whose interest is that in? (honest question(s))
Seems to me alot of otherwise very creative and unique perspectives will be lost in this shift.
What I don't undeststand is why are you being so defensive about it? Whose interest is that in? (honest question(s))
Let's put the rhetoric away for a moment and consider the situation objectively:
1) To many people--and not just people at Google--personalized search makes sense as a concept, for reasons which have were pointed out earlier in this thread (the huge growth of the Web, an increasingly diverse audience, etc.).
2) Even if personalized search didn't make sense, it's a fait accompli, and the kind of name-calling and venting that we've seen in this thread won't make it go away.
3) If personalized search turns out to be a bust, Google will phase it out or users will move on to other search engines. If it turns out to be a success, it'll be around for a long time. In other words, the market will decide.
4) Like it or not, Google Search isn't run by us, and Google's managers, engineers, and programmers get to decide how Google Search results are served up to users.
I don't call those observations "defensive," I call them "realistic." People can vent as much as they want, but the reality is that angry words and name-calling won't make personalized search disappear.
Thus ( donc) ..
2) Even if personalized search didn't make sense, it's a fait accompli, and the kind of name-calling and venting that we've seen in this thread won't make it go away.
Requires ..nay..demands .. ..this response
it's a fait accompli
"It isn't a fait accompli ..nor a "done deal" because opt in tracking by default is against our law ..and that of all other European states" ..
then they said some other stuff which if I translated it would get past even the more recently relaxed bad word filters here ..and I had to explain to them that not all Americans thought it was a good idea or a "done deal" or ethical ..just some ..like GORG and their friends
2 ex east Germans ( Osties ) that I know said "why are so many westerners and especially Americans prepared to accept this level of spying from private companies ..when so many of us died trying to escape our countries when our governments tried to know in the same way what we did who we read and what we said..they must be insane ..this to us is the new stasi..same as the old stasi ..but with a smiley face ..and advertising..do the westerners give away their privacy and their freedom from the spy over their shoulder so cheaply ..we know the price of freedom from the eyes of those who would be our masters we paid that price with our blood slowly dripping onto the sand of the zone between the old east and what we thought was the free west ..now you tell us that we will be spied upon and our children will be spied upon each time they use this wonderfull thing the internets that was supposed to make us all citizens of the world ..all equal ..all of us could read and learn and explore and say what we wished ..without fear ..and now a man comes and he says ...on TV ..unafraid ...those who have nothing to hide have nothing to fear ..we are afraid ..because we know his type ...of old .and many of us have perished ..trying to escape from his sort ..trying to get from the darkness to the light .. we thought we had arrived to the light ..and that it had driven away the darkness even in our old country ..and that our children and their children would grow up not having to fear what they said ..or what they read ..or who they talked to ..and now we are afraid of this man and what he stands for ..and his smiling company ..and we will fight ..and we will insist that out governments fight this ..because we have seen what happens when the big people say they know what is best for the small people ..not being spied upon is precious ..they are crazy to say it is OK just for the business of Google..or any company ..
it is wrong" ..
A little (translated ) quote from some friends of mine ..who the first time ( and many other times ) I met them was when the wall was still up ..and I was visiting ..the other side of the wall ..and we always had to wonder who was listening that we didn't know about ..very like GORG not telling you they are tracking the moment that you land on search or youtube are served something via double click or analytics etc ..
Those of us who have been there ..do not want any part of spying on where we go, what we do , who we talk to, what we read, and where we look ..online or off ..not by our governments..and certainly not by Mr Schmidt nor any other company that claims they need to do this in order to serve us better ..it always begins as "it's for your own good" ..
If it turns out to be a success, it'll be around for a long time. In other words, the market will decide.
Not here ..it's judges and the commissioners and the elected representatives of the people of each state acting in concert ..and they already declared opt in by default illegal ..and also the holding of data by private companies ( or nasdaq quoted such as GORG ) relating to European citizens without allowing them the ability to see and correct /or remove and delete all such data..
Like it or not ..that's the law ..where over 300,000,000 ( that is 300 million ) people live ..and unless gorg want to "kiss off operating" and displaying it's wares to the EU and it's citizens it will have to rethink this ..
BTW ..offences under the EU data protection acts not only carry the potential for fines that can make even GORG wince and maybe seem less attractive to it's shareholders ..but said offences if proven also carry jail time .. up to 5 years per offence if convicted..
And as soon as the noise has died down from the Copenhagen talks our legislators and commissioners will be back at their desks and reading their emails and snail mail and voice mail ..from myself and many many others ..
And in the new year after the festivities are over ..we will learn if it is a fait accompli ..everywhere ..n'est-ce pas ( wont we ..literal translation "isn't it") ..mon cher S_J.
If Google is going to personalize all of its search results, what's the point of trying to check your rankings by viewing search results through a proxy? Whatever rankings you see won't be the rankings that John across the street and Jane next door are seeing. So why jump through hoops to get results that don't reflect reality?
because it's still the "benchmark" of where your site is without the personalized factor? obviously individual results will vary, but it will still tell you a lot about if you're going the right way surely?
much like at the moment, everyone sees different things anyway due to geo location, but the de-personalized is the "standard" ?
any idea is better than no idea IMO, even if some of the time you dont appear to viewers, some of the time you will.
any idea is better than no idea IMO
I'll say it again, install Opera, to disable cookies go to:
Tools > Preferences > Advanced > Cookies > Check "Never Accept Cookies"
Use a different browswer for those sites where you have to use cookies. Use ccleaner on a very regular basis, I tend to use it when I finish most days however once a week would suffice for most people.
They're both free therefore try them out and experience a new method of working, you may be quite surprised.
