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.
When I travel I have 3 specific Hotel Chains I like so currently my search result might be Hotel xxville
Currently the chances under personilsed search are those hotel chains WILL show up in my results if they have a Hotel in xxville
Now I have decided I want to go to New Orleans ( MODS sorry about specific but does provide good example )
The reason I go to New Orleans is I want to stay in old hotels that are not chains and because of that have a very specific charm that I love.
So I type in my normal search query
Hotels New Orleans
Now what comes up as results "the chains" because G knows I like those hotels in which case the results will not actually match what I wanted or will it know that I want real results
Just my own type of example where it is possible that Personalized search will leave me the searcher disappointed, also the sites that are no longer listed
We will see how this pans out but could work in favour for some searches but against other searches and also will always favour the Internet's BIG Boys.
Google claimed to have 200 ranking factors at the last count. My guess is this is number 201 and as such will be mixed with the others rather than overriding them.
For those worrying about launching new sites - Have you tried to launch a new site since 2002? It's tough these days. I could see this helping new sites. If everybody loves them perhaps they will appear in search faster. If people hate the new site then perhaps it won't appear quite so quickly.
For privacy it's an anonymous cookie - they don't know who you are and it's it's the same cookie they've always sent you. Why bother about it now? Personally I've always blocked it, but that's only because I worried about it before.
We complained about the ajax serps where we couldn't tell what people were searching for when they landed on our site. Personally I prefer that data collection to be handled by cookies.
Yes they could do a little more evil, but they changed their catchline a little while back so they don't claim that they don't.
Bing it on!
I am not enthusiastic about a company that has bitten me in more ways than I can begin to count - and a company that has been a lot less transparent than Google. This entire thread exists because Google told us, UP FRONT, what they are doing. I do not trust Microsoft to be nearly as transparent as Google has been. Beautiful photography is not sufficient amends for their past sins.
There are new ways of acquiring traffic today, and there will be many more because the web is very young. I think digital marketers should embrace and create many ways of generating traffic and not be stuck on traditional search. Search engine technology requires a huge company, and size alone brings imbalance and inequities. Why empower that in any form?
The promise of the web has been a somewhat more level playing field, a lower cost of entry -- and that promise still exists. The main thing I watch out for is Google, or anyone, building a vertical monopoly -- especially when that monopoly happens through acquisition rather than innovation.
I don't see this Google announcement as creating a new privacy issue. The privacy issues involved are far from unique to Google, at any rate. The only way this generates a further privacy violation is if you let someone else use your computer so they can see how your search results are being bent.
Isn't the big concern here over how this impacts SEO? Well, the switch to opt-out from opt-in has occurred, at least for cookie-based histories. What results are we seeing?
I'd say this change will benefit the solid company that has not done a good job with SEO so far. The balance will shift a bit, from customer acquisition to customer retention. Well-optimized sites may start losing business to poorly optimized sites that have happy customers.
These bean counters just don't get it. It may work in the lab, or the logs may show that ROI sky rockets but in the real world it just does not work.
I've said before about another company which planned to do this. Behavioural Targeting just does not work in reality.
The google blog guy gives a few examples. Before I give a few more let me just say that the google blog guy doesn't know how to use a browser. If he wants to search for recipes and always be shown epicurious first: BOOKMARK! If he searches for big red and wants to visit cornellbigred: BOOKMARK!
Examples of where B.T. does not work.
The Anniversary
A couple are approaching their 25th wedding anniversary. The wife (first to remember) searches for anniversary presents each day and is tempted with the Classic Car Experience Day.
A week later the husband realises the pending anniversary and decides to search for anniversary presents. The Classic Car Experience is shown first and he now works out his wife's surprise gift for him.
The Expectant Couple
A couple are trying for a baby. For weeks they search for baby information and after a while their ads / searches are continually showing prams, diapers, toys.
Sadly the couple can not conceive, or lose the baby. They now wish to search for baby support groups but they still keep seeing ads and sites for prams, diapers, toys.
The Cure for Buyers Remorse
A novice wishes to purchase a new camera. He spends weeks reading reviews of cameras and finds that a particular Canolympikon model is the best. He reads lots of reviews for that camera model and visits various sites to check prices.
One day he purchases the camera. Now he needs to know how to get the best out of it but every time he searches he sees sites / ads for reviews and prices of that camera model.
In all three of those cases B.T. fails. It fails the user because they are not getting the pages they want. It fails the advertiser because the users are just not going to click on them.
However as a searcher, the traditional process of refining additional search queries is tainted and corrupted. As a whole, I find the results to be unreliable and confusing. It is further a mess in that I use two machines at work, one at home, and two regular laptops. Often, several of them at the same time via remote viewing. It sucks to do a query on one machine and flip over to another and not be able to find the same results.
They tested personalized search as a default earlier last week. I ran into it and it took 4-8 additional searches to get the personalized junk out of the serps and get valid dependable results. I had actually nuked my cookies before I realized I was not logged in. Regardless of claims by Google - there is no reasonable way to turn it off and keep it off between multiple systems and multiple users.
I believe with this option turned on by default Google will see better short term results in the form of increased searches and on site time at Google. However, it is short sighted and will hurt them in the long term.
Net result - a win for other search engines and a loss for Google users.
but to those of us who grew up with the old Coca-Cola and said "No" to New Coke, the power of the marketplace can be a wonderful thing.
The deal with this switch was using a cheapened form of sugar cane in New Coke, which Coca Cola expected by be rejected by the masses. The corporation then re-introduced "Original" Coke back in with a substantially reduced quality cane from the original, but not as bad as New Coke.
Thereby, fooling us all into paying the same price for a far less quality soda. Many people did not notice because they were so happy to have original Coke back. This is not by idea of Democracy, it's more like being manipulated by a large Corporation for their needs.
Does it matter if people did not know? Of course it does. We are all drinking a less quality product for the original price.
The balance will shift a bit, from customer acquisition to customer retention. Well-optimized sites may start losing business to poorly optimized sites that have happy customers.
A few things to think about... (questions are hypothetical):
- tedster's comment above is exactly why SEOs are unhappy about Personalization.
- With online search, users expect variety--even if their previous 10 searches (and subsequent clicks) were directed at a particular site.
- What if your previous 10 searches (and clicks) become the 10 results delivered whenever you search using the same keyword? How long will page 1 be "sculpted," or personalized? Until your browser cache is cleared? Will those 10 personalized results be ranked according to how often you clicked on them?
- People are, by nature, skeptical when they think (or know) they're being followed. We're okay with it when shopping in a market or gambling in Vegas (i.e. surveillance cameras for security, and for the protection of private property); or while surfing the web at work (i.e. employee time utilization, which is driven by company productivity standards). What is Google's interest in following us? (Personalized SERPS = More money?)
- Sites currently sitting on pages 1 and 2 of the SERPS, through Personalization, will get the majority of clicks. This will seemingly keep them hovering around pages 1 and 2. In other words--IBLs, SEO, and being an authority in your niche--may not matter much anymore.
- It's Google's ball--if we don't like it, we can stop playing their game and play someone else's. As painful as it may be, this will likely have to occur to bring about effective competition.
Don't like it? Stop using it. It's that simple.
As far as I can understand if you visit a widget site you will get widget ads for 99% of the time. When there are no widgets ads to display then you will get (in a tiny minority of cases) an ad based on your browsing history.
For years, your browsing history has been captured. Every single site you visited has been stored. It's just that now, in a few cases, this information will be used to determine what ad is displayed. No big deal.
[edited by: Brett_Tabke at 10:06 pm (utc) on Dec. 5, 2009]
[edit reason] lets leave the personal stuff at the door... [/edit]
It's just that now, in a few cases, this information will be used to determine what ad is displayed.
But this change is not about advertising - it's about the organic search results. That means it could be a bigger deal.
