Google is Not My Mother, and Should Kill Personalized Search
February 2nd, 2007 by Michael Gray in GoogleIf you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Read my top posts or learn more about Michael Gray. Want more frequent updates follow me on Twitter. Thanks for visiting!
If Aaron’s correct that they are increasing personalized search and turning off notification, and I have no reason to doubt him, I have to say whatever rocket scientist came up with that idea should be handed a pink slip and thrown out the door.
Here’s an example I like seafood, and when I go out to a restaurant it’s something I prefer. If the the restaurants I visited mined my past purchases they could discern that pattern easily. If the wait staff was like Google when I sat at the table they might tell me they have three choices, swordfish, shark or octopus. The manager would beam confidently that my personalized menu was the panicle of restaurant service. The owner would would have a self congratulatory smile across his face that he had improved my customer experience. Want to know what they would have screwed it up and couldn’t have gotten in more wrong.
Sure I may have ordered that sashimi 6 months ago that had octopus in it, but I did it because I wanted to know what it tasted like. I don’t eat octopus I think they are intelligent animals and have a real problem eating them, in fact if I had to eat octopus one more time it would be two times too many.
Swordfish there’s another one I’ve eaten before, but you know what, when I saw a video of a species specific parasitic worm over 2 feet in length being pulled from just under the skin, my swordfish days were over. Sharks, well I just won’t eat sharks anymore because I think they’re cool.
Sure now some pocket protector wearing propeller head will chime up, the system should be smart enough to learn that and not offer those choices to you again. Ok wise guy what if I was listening to Aaron Copeland in the car (yes I do have classical music in the car) and suddenly got a hankering for a steak when I heard Rodeo (it’s the beef it’s what’s for dinner music) on the way over, is your system smart enough to learn that?
I don’t go to the library to see only the books the librarian thinks I should read. I don’t go to the video store to see only the movies they think I should rent. I don’t go to the supermarket to buy only the food the supermarket wants me to buy. I’m an intelligent human being and can make decisions for myself, and I don’t need search results treat me like I’m a child, thank you very much. Lastly if you were confident in the quality of your SERP’s you wouldn’t need to tailor them to me specifically.
Why is it such a big deal, why don’t I just turn off personalized search? Well I wish I could, but because some genius had the bright idea to make search history dependant on personalized search, so I can’t, unless I want to give up the history. Go try to turn off personalized search and not lose search history, if you figure it out come back and tell me how. C’mon Google let’s put an end to this nonsense and if you are “improving my user experience” at least have the decency to tell me about it.
Sphere It
February 3rd, 2007 at 11:19 am
The Personalized Results are Coming, The Personalized Results are Coming!…
The Personalized Results are Coming, The Personalized Results are Coming!…
February 3rd, 2007 at 11:34 am
Amen. Amen.
I guess the search history will have to be sacrifised.
February 3rd, 2007 at 1:35 pm
panicle -> pinnacle, maybe?
My short answer to “I don’t go to the library to see only the books the librarian thinks I should read” is that you’d still get the books you asked for, but with the possibility of better results. If you asked for William Gibson you’d get William Gibson, but personalization could help you discover Neal Stephenson as well.
February 3rd, 2007 at 2:03 pm
There’s an easy solution to this, of course. Opt-in/Opt-out. Shouldn’t be too difficult for them to add that.
February 3rd, 2007 at 2:18 pm
The beauty of the web for me has been the endless source that you could draw from in order to gain new knowledge. There are things that I lookup for myself, for others, just on a whim, sometimes just to figure out how to spell something, and sometimes so the next person on the computer would have to do a double take. Don’t make me anonymously proxy to the search engines just so that I could have the same pool of knowledge to draw from that I had a week ago.
I worked in a library for years and I think your librarian comment was spot on. The internet has been steadily replacing the library as a resource based off of facts exactly like what you say. I don’t need a library that shifts to Bukowski books when I walk in the door. Sometimes it’s the Bulgakov on the shelf next to it that catches your eye and opens a new world.
February 3rd, 2007 at 2:19 pm
@matt > when I’m passionate my speeling gets worse
February 3rd, 2007 at 5:12 pm
Matt once said something about how when he reaches a spelling error in text he stops reading. I hope the Google algorithm can go beyond this personal preference.
February 3rd, 2007 at 5:54 pm
I get the feeling personalized search while at times useful will ultimately lead to stagnant thought. If you’re always serving me results based on what I’ve shown interest in the past then many new ideas will never come in front of me. Once you’ve decided who I am and what you think I want where do I go for something new?
Personal search can be a good thing, but it has to be something I can opt in/out from.
February 3rd, 2007 at 11:57 pm
Am I missing something? Can’t you just sign out of your Google Account? I never stayed signed in anyway for exactly that reason. And of course I don’t have the Google Toolbar installed either.
They’ll always have to allow that option at least. Otherwise, what if - using their example - the Miami Dolphins fan decided on day that he wanted to learn more about the swimming kind of dolphin?
February 4th, 2007 at 2:29 am
I think it only becomes a real problem if you do not “remember” your social security number/bank account number and you search Google for it. Just search for anything on Matt Cutts a few times first and if personalized search really works ….
Christoph
February 4th, 2007 at 3:07 am
IMO - The problem is much deeper.
If… Websites that you have already visited will tend to rank higher on subsequent queries if you have that feature enabled…
If you search for something new… It seems to me that it has little effect at first, because it’s a new neighborhood with no personal history.
However… (IMO) Most people start their research with a very generic term and then refine the query the closer they get to a purchase decision.
A website that ranks well for a super generic keyword like “Widgets” and receives a visit, it will likely continue to rank well for more specific queries like “Brand X Blue Widgets” regardless if it’s the most relevant result or not, simply because you’ve already been there.
This is the classic “Mathew Effect” where people who are already famous like Paris Hilton, usually receive much more attention than those who may be more deserving of the attention. (Who wants that?)
(IMO) You may also likely benefit from the “Mathew Effect” if you’re a large corporation and can afford to bid on the most generic terms thus getting yourself into the user history.
If you can pay for something generic like “Widgets” or whatever, you might have better luck getting them for free in the organic results on the Long Tail and more “transactional” and specific terms like “Brand X Blue Widgets” when the user is ready to buy something.
Versus the independent webmaster working a specific niche in a large industry.
Is this an improvement?
I’m sure there are ways to game this system as well. Maybe the more aggressive internet marketers, will pay people to place their website in an i-frame, thus getting the target website into a person’s history that way, etc.
February 5th, 2007 at 6:04 pm
“…when I saw a video of a species specific parasitic worm over 2 feet in length being pulled from just under the skin, my swordfish days were over.”
[covers mouth with both hands]Oh. My. God. I will never eat swordfish again.
February 5th, 2007 at 6:14 pm
>I will never eat swordfish again
exactly, I really wish I had never seen that
February 5th, 2007 at 6:48 pm
Totally agree and I blogged about it on my site recently. I really *hate* the fact that Google is activating this thing without telling the user, who might NOT be looking for a site they have visited before, but something different.
As far as I’m concerned, it means Google will be dishing out inaccurate search results to the uninformed multitudes.
February 5th, 2007 at 8:05 pm
“have the decency to tell me about it”
That’s what i find the most important. Why don’t they tell users in the world that they are doing this before they start with it. Many many people don’t know that their results are personalized. I don’t know if that is a good thing.
February 7th, 2007 at 6:28 pm
Agreed that they could be doing a much better job with the options and the notification but when you go to sign into your Google account thay do have some notification up:
http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=383107324&size=o