WebProNews

Tag: personalized search

  • When Personalized Search and Relevance Collide

    Not everybody is a fan of the increasingly personalized search results they get from Google. Some criticize them as a way for Google to give advertisers reasons to rely on PPC as opposed to the less predictable organic results, and others just find it disruptive to relevance.

    Do you prefer your search results to be personalized? Tell us what you think.

    In terms of relevance, I think it can work both ways. There are many cases, as I believe is the intention of Google, when a personalized result will simply be more relevant because of that personalization. This could be due to location, because it comes from someone within my social circle (a [arguably] trusted source), or from something I have bookmarked in the past (Google bookmarks are synced with the recently launched starred results feature).

    Google adds starring to search results pages for personalized search

    However, there are times when Google’s system of personalization does get in the way, particularly with that starred results feature. When they appear, the starred results are generally (though not always) provided above all the rest. In some ways, this makes sense, because if you starred them yourself, you likely found them to be quality results. However, when you starred that result, you may not have done so with relevance to a specific query or topic in mind. You may have just liked the site and wanted to remember it.

    In fact, most of the starred results at this point (given how new the starred results feature is) simply come from pages that have been bookmarked in Google Bookmarks (if you have been a user in the past). If this is the case, chances are that when you bookmarked a certain page, say a year ago, you didn’t take into consideration that Google would one day use that bookmark as a personalized search result in a possibly unrelated query down the road. How could you have known?

    There are plenty of times when these bookmarked/starred results do come in handy in a Google search. That said, they are not always the most relevant, and do not always deserve top rank on the SERP, even when they are given just that.

    For example, if I perform a search for "matt cutts", his personal blog (which is the top organic listing) is probably the best result for that query, but since I have written about things Cutts has said in the past, and have a particular article bookmarked for my own reference, that article appears at the top of my results, over his blog. It’s not THAT big a deal really. It doesn’t take me long to look down and find his blog if that’s what I’m looking for, but it does push the more relevant result down, and that isn’t necessarily a good thing.

    Google is now testing some list sharing features within Google Bookmarks. Given Google’s increased focus on social web elements and how they fit into search (think social search, real-time search, Buzz, etc.), one can’t help but wonder if Bookmarks will play an even greater role in Google’s search product going forward.

    Do you find Google’s personalized search to be helpful or hurtful most often? Share your thoughts here.

  • How Badly Do People Want Personalized Search?

    Let me start off by saying that I have no problem with my search results being personalized, because I understand that search engines want to deliver the best user experience so that users will keep using them. If I get results that are personalized well, that means I don’t have to look too far for what I’m trying to find. However, not all users are so thrilled with the evolution of search results pages, particularly with the personalization aspect.

    This week, Google announced the launch of a new feature that lets users star their search results for ones they like. This would lead to the starred results appearing at the top of the SERP in future searches, when appropriate. The feature is still rolling out, so if you don’t see it yet, you should see it soon.

    Google adds starring to search results pages for personalized search

    After reporting on this change, we received comments from readers like:

    "I really am getting hacked off with this bloody personalised search thing… the serps are full of bloody crap for 50% of searches and ultimately less relevent than before."

    "I think that if they take into consideration the stars for serps everything will be a mess…"

    "I’m getting tired of Google forcing things on me. Over and over and over after I have said I do not want to be recognized for my geographical locations, it keeps asking me."

    I’m guessing comments like these aren’t limited to this particular instance. I doubt that they represent the majority of opinions about Google’s SERP changes, but it does raise an interesting question: Is Google trying too hard to improve? To answer this with a yes, would indicate that Google’s results are already perfect (or were at least), and while Google has had a pretty good reputation for delivering quality results (and the market share to back it up), I don’t know if anyone would go so far as to call them perfect, including Google itself.

    There is always room for improvement. Things can always get better. Some ideas work, and others don’t. Sometimes you don’t know until you try, and if certain concepts don’t go over well with the majority, sometimes they are scrapped. In fact, the very release of this starring feature also represents the end of a less successful feature in Google’s SearchWiki.

    As for personalized search itself, I wouldn’t count on it going away anytime soon. I wouldn’t count on Google (or the other search engines for that matter) spending less time trying to improve in this area. Why would you want them to? If your results are tailored to you specifically, does that not increase their chances of being more relevant to you?

    If privacy is a concern, remember, you can always look at the Google Dashboard and look at everything Google has stored about you from each of the company’s products that you may use.

    Do you like personalized search? Should search engines continue to innovate in this area? Share your thoughts here.

  • Google Pesonalizes Search Results More with Star Feature

    Google today introduced yet another way it is personalizing search results (we talked about social search with the company at SMX). Now Google is letting users "star" search results that they like, just like the star feature in other Google products like Gmail, Reader, and Google News.

    This almost seems like an obvious move for SERPs now that it is there, but it has not been present until now. Essentially, when you star results you like, you will get them at the top of your results the next time you search a query relevant to them. 

    "With stars, you can simply click the star marker on any search result or map and the next time you perform a search, that item will appear in a special list right at the top of your results when relevant," the company explains. "That means if you star the official websites for your favorite football teams, you might see those results right at the top of your next search for [nfl]."

    Google adds starring to search results pages for personalized search

    "The great thing about stars is that you don’t have to keep track of them," the company continues. "You don’t even have to remember whether or not you starred something. Simply perform a search and you’ll rediscover your starred items right when you need them. Stars sync with your Google Bookmarks and the Google Toolbar, so you can always see your list of starred items in one place and easily organize them. Even beyond the results page, while browsing the web you can quickly click the star icon in Toolbar to create a bookmark, and those pages will start showing up in the new stars feature."

    Interestingly, the feature replaces Google’s existing SearchWiki feature, which apparently didn’t catch on too much. According to Google, people don’t much care for rearranging the order of search results. I can’t say I blame them. The annotation feature that came along with that is pretty much what you get from Google’s other product – SideWiki, anyway, and Google suggests using that if you want to leave a comment on a particular result.

    The new star interface will be rolling out over the next couple days. It will only work if you are signed in of course. Do you like the result starring concept? Share your thoughts.

  • Can Search Engine Optimization Survive Google?

    The search engine landscape is ever changing. We covered that. However, while there are multiple players involved in facilitating that change, there is one that drives it far more than the rest of the competition. Obviously, we’re talking about Google.

    Is there a point where adapting to Google’s changes becomes impossible? Share your thoughts.

    To a very drastic extent, Google drives how the search engine marketing industry operates. With Google holding such a dominant share of the search market, it’s not hard to figure out why. While some may tell you it’s not the most productive use of your marketing time, businesses who hope to find success in driving people to their website (or even brick and mortar store) often hang on every word Google says and every change Google makes to its search engine and/or search results.

    Liz Gannes with the tech blog GigaOm recently spoke with Google Engineering Director David Glazer about Google’s approach to social for 2010. And we come back to that changing search landscape. Social plays a huge role in it, and Glazer acknowledged just that. Gannes reports:

    In 2010, Google plans to expose and elicit more of the social network built into the tools that many of us already use — Gmail, Google Talk, etc. If you use Google products, the company already knows who your most important contacts are, what your core interests are, and where your default locations are. Glazer said to expect many product and feature launches that start to connect that information in useful ways.

    "Everything is better when it knows who I am," said Glazer, who is responsible for working on developer platforms that include social aspects — a more distributed role than he had at Google in the past, Glazer said, when he was working on social exclusively. That’s an improvement, he said, since social products are no longer siloed within the company.

    What does "social" mean to Google? "Who I am, who do I know, what do I do," said Glazer. (emphasis added)

    Back in October, Google released its experimental Social Search feature, which Google said would help users "find more relevant public content from their broader social circle."

    Relevance of social search has been questioned though. WebProNews recently discussed search trends for 2010 and beyond with comScore‘s "Search Evangelist" Eli Goodman. Believe it or not, social search is counted among these trends, and he mentions such a lack of relevance in social search results.

    The real question is: is SEO going to become less relevant? Before you get all worked up, I will acknowledge that SEO is based on adaptation and changing along with the search engines. In fact, that was essentially the topic of a recent WebProNews article. Hear me out.

    Right now, search engine optimization as we know it is still very relevant for businesses, but as Google learns more about who people are, they’re going to direct them to what they think is right. Social search and personalized search are very closely related.

    Think about Google’s universal search, which aims to deliver results Google thinks you might want. These results draw from a wide variety of different places – Google News, Google’s real-time index, YouTube, etc. Each set of universal results takes more attention away from the regular old organic results. How long until social search (or something like it) becomes a part of this.

    And let’s not forget about mobile. Smartphones are taking the world by storm, and Google is doing everything in its power to take over this market (though it still has work to do). Google knows your location if you let it. Then you have Google Latitude. Google knows your friends’ locations if they let it. Then, what happens when Chrome OS (Google’s Operating System) comes out. It may not catch on as much as Google would like, but then again it may. It starts on netbooks, but how long until that grows into something bigger?

    Google just keeps on releasing more products. More products means more opportunities for the company to encourage use of other Google products. They also keep acquiring more companies by the way, and that includes the recent acquisition of a mobile advertising agency and an attempted acquisition of Yelp (the failure of which, was quickly compensated for to some extent by Google’s release of the "Near me Now" feature).

    As Gannes notes, Google has this month brought on strategists Joseph Smarr and Chris Messina, who she says are "widely known for their advocacy of the open social web." This likely will lead to more social and personalized experiences related to search.

    Chris Brogan, one of the posterboys for social media, read the article too, and makes some pretty good points for businesses. Rather, he asks questions. Questions like:

    – Does your company know how you are?
    – Do they know who you know?
    – Do they know what you do?

    Questions like these are already important for a business looking to establish its identity (not to mention tell its story), but they could become increasingly important in an era of new SEO strategies.

    "People expect a certain level of customer service as table stakes to the game," says Brogan. "In the new, much more wired world, I believe we’re asking for more. I want my airlines to know just how often I fly, which seat I tend to choose, how often I upgrade, and whether I normally check my bag. Think about how helpful they could be if they did something with that information."

    Naturally, privacy plays a big role in the scheme of things, and as Brogan notes, that means opt-in. However, I think people generally trust Google (the search engine), at least to the extent that they will continue using it for the foreseeable future. I am well aware that many people do NOT trust Google, but within the broad spectrum of the general public, people trust it. Google’s search market share is evidence of that.

    So, moving into the future, as Google makes efforts to tailor the user experience to a more social and more personalized one, where does that leave traditional SEO? Can it survive? It’s always been about adaptation and will continue to be, but is there a breaking point where SEO will be trumped by who users know and where they are? Who they are? Can you optimize for every individual customer? That’s where things could get tricky.

    If you have thoughts on the matter, we would love to hear them in the comments.

    Related Articles:

    > Google Launches Social Search Experiment

    > Optimizing for Mixed Media Search Results

    > Succeeding In SEO Requires Change