People Also Searched For. At the result level

[NickMNS]

I just starting noticing that Google is providing "People Also Searched For..." suggestions on the result level. This used to be shown at the bottom of the page, so at the page level but now there is a suggestion for each results. It only shows when you go back.

See here:
[imgur.com...]

I don't know what to make of this, good, bad?

[MrSavage]

It's less and less about discovery. It's suggesting you look for what else is popular. It's a robotic way of doing things. Like autocomplete. Imagine autocomplete human communcation with your friends and spouse. No room for interpretation. It steers everyone is the same direction. So do tell, how would anyone suggest this is good for organics? Like I dunno, didn't it just push a number or "results" onto page 2? How on an SEO forum can we find the good in that? Perhaps if we have the popular suggested content, but then again, if that's popular, then it's going to the big, corporate geared enterprise web conglomerates. Nothing niche about those suggestions so it's no doubt going to funnel more to the people (PR) that matter. It's asinine to ask the question whether a huge block in the middle (or top) or a page is somehow good. Good for who? Likely people who aren't roaming these types of forums that's for sure. SEO crowd perhaps, but the average webmaster? More clutter, is this good or bad? Geez I wonder. Less organic results on a page. Good or bad? Geez, I wonder. More traffic filtering and less niche searches? Geez, good or bad? Fact: What gets lost here is discovery or the ability to seek things that aren't in the "brain" of popular thought. Let's all be robots that rely on autocomplete and search results that are void of the words we type in the box. This is getting nuts. Good? Bad?

[aristotle]

In theory this could be used to influence what people search for, which sites they visit, and what information they see. I doubt that google tries to use it for this purpose at the present time. But it is a theoretical possibility for the future.

[MrSavage]

Google isn't in the business of influencing people what to search for. However, since a "brain" doesn't understand something unless it's popular, it's dangerous. And given the unbelievable market share that Google search possesses, it's a scary thought that this is shaping habits. It's faulty by nature. Yes I, or anyone else could opt for Bing, but 90%+ of the world's population doesn't. Google is shaping thoughts and delivering skewed content. Go ahead and start search more obscure subject and you will see (painfully) how many results show up void of one or all of your search terms. Instead, you get the populous words. Google interprets or doesn't understand, and therefore you must mean what everyone else means. It's crazy actually. I dare to say most people here are light users at best, are old, and really haven't been digging around on subjects that are cutting edge or undiscovered. What most people have are established sites and businesses that used the past to become what they are. Thus having no clue what starting from ground zero in 2018 in regarding to website building. Whatever the case, I'm sure at some point the madness will get addressed with an actual competitor. This steering of funneling just opens the door so much wider for fake news and large, government run operations that can influence the so called "brain" that isn't accountable for anything it does.

[NickMNS]

The "People Also Searched for" feature is not new, it has been at the bottom of the page for a while now. The outcome described by MrSavage applies to that just as much this new version. The striking thing here is that it applies at the specific result level and only on return to the search results. This data is definitely going to be used to feed the AI to improve the interpretation of the users intent.

I'm not sure if it will really change much for the user's first interaction but it will help Google understand intent the longer users stays with the Google search ecosystem. In so doing it will Google will not only be better at determining what the users final "search fulfilling" destination was but also exactly what the user was looking for in the first place. So then, maybe it will ultimately help improve the first results shown.

[Wilburforce]

Google isn't in the business of influencing people what to search for.

If what you see is manipulated, what you do is influenced.

[browndog]

I've been seeing that for ages. I use it to my advantage to see what more I can include in my articles.