Personalized Search Versus Personal Choice
Personalized search is a hot topic especially since Yahoo! and Microsoft have announced they are aggressively
developing this service. Most likely, people will be leery of personalized search if they think that this is just
be another way for companies to market to them. Search engine research has shown that there are typically two types
of searchers: information seekers and buyers.
Information Seekers
If personalized search is to work for the information seekers, then instead of lots of targeted marketing, the
personalized search experience had better offer targeted information that the person can use. A better information
search experience without having to bypass a slew of commercial sites would appeal to the information seeker.
Buyers
What if you already have the information you need or don't want any information, but just want to make an online
purchase? For buyers, information-only sites are something to be by-passed in the SERP's. If personalized search
can deliver the products and services the buyer wants, and not just what the marketers want to push before them,
then buyers may find some value in personalized search.
Personal Choice
Personalized search must involve personal choice if it is to succeed. The Big Brother and privacy issues need to be
held to a minimum. Personalized search needs to be an option that can easily be turned on and off as desired.
Personalized search should not be equated with limited choices. The person needs to feel that they are in control
and not the search engines. They also need to see real personal value in using this service.
What if a person is sometimes an information seeker and other times a buyer, or in the matter of seconds they
switch hats? How will personalized search accommodate this person? Will the person have to toggle back and forth
between a couple of different user profiles or click on and off a checkbox to switch between these two different
forms of search? These are questions the SE's will have to address in personalization.
Google
Google has a beta personalized search engine at: http://labs.google.com/personalized/profile.html that is pretty
interesting to test. You're told to click on Health, then the General Health checkbox and search for "stanford."
When searching for the word "bob" instead of "stanford" at the Minimum Personalize setting the first three results
are "Bob the Builder," "Bob Marley" and "Bob Dylan". The rest of this page has no health related information on it
as well. But, when the slider is pulled to Maximum Personalize, "Dr. Bob" has the first two positions followed the
other results mentioned above. Its obvious Google has a ways to go in developing this.
Personal Privacy
If personalized search is to succeed, then personal privacy issues need to be addressed and concerns held to a
minimum. Will personalized search involve searching your hard drive to see what your interests are? Will your
interests be stored in a cookie on your computer? What happens when multiple users share a computer - will someone
else get hit with all sorts of Preparation H advertisements because of the hemorrhoid treatment searches you wanted
to keep private? And will children be affected by adult personalized searches?
These are all questions that the SE's need to address so that people do not feel that their privacy is being
violated or put at risk. The more control and choice the user has over personalized search the more likely it has
in succeeding for the search engines.
Copyright © 2004 SEO Resource
SEO Marketing Consultants
Kevin Kantola is the CEO of SEO Resource, a California search engine optimization company, and has published many
articles over the past 20 years.
Source: http://www.ezinearticles.com
Google must surrender its users' personal information to Viacom (VNU Net via Yahoo! UK & Ireland News)
Google has been ordered to disclose personal information, including viewing habits and internet addresses to Viacom, in the latest phase of the ongoing legal battle between the two companies. Google must surrender its users' personal information to Viacom (Computing.co.uk)
Janie Davies, Computing , Friday 4 July 2008 at 10:21:00 A US court has ruled that Google must provide Viacom with details of users who have watched YouTube videos Google has been ordered to disclose personal information, including viewing habits and internet addresses to Viacom, in the latest phase of the ongoing legal battle between the two companies.... Google must surrender its users' personal information to Viacom (vnunet.com)
Janie Davies, Information World Review , Friday 4 July 2008 at 11:52:00 A US court has ruled that Google must provide Viacom with details of users who have watched YouTube videos Google has been ordered to disclose personal information, including viewing habits and internet addresses to Viacom, in the latest phase of the ongoing legal battle between the two companies.... ...
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