Google Plus One
Google wants likes too: +1 adds shared links to Buzz profiles, impacts search results of followers; http://eicker.at/PlusOne
Tagged: Google Personalized Search Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
Gerrit Eicker
Google Updates Social Search
Google: Social Search will now be mixed throughout results, adds notes, connects social media; http://eicker.at/SocialSearch
Gerrit Eicker
Search vs. Curation
Teicher: Are search rankings an outdated system? Is there a single best answer? http://eicker.at/SearchVsCuration
Gerrit Eicker
Google Personalized Search
Google has aimed for personalized search since 2005: Now it is reality and the default for everyone; http://j.mp/6mdkNB
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Gerrit Eicker
Google (2005): “With the launch of Personalized Search, you can use that search history you’ve been building to get better results. You probably won’t notice much difference at first, but as your search history grows, your personalized results will gradually improve. – This whole concept of personalization has been a big part our lives since some of the team was in grad school at Stanford. We shared an office, which happened to be the same one Sergey had used before, and we were pretty familiar with the research he and Larry had done. Related to their work, we thought building a scalable system for personalizing search results presented an interesting challenge. We’ve still got a long way to go, but we’re excited to release this first step.”
Google (2009): “Today we’re helping people get better search results by extending Personalized Search to signed-out users worldwide, and in more than forty languages. Now when you search using Google, we will be able to better provide you with the most relevant results possible. For example, since I always search for [recipes] and often click on results from epicurious.com, Google might rank epicurious.com higher on the results page the next time I look for recipes. Other times, when I’m looking for news about Cornell University’s sports teams, I search for [big red]. Because I frequently click on cornellbigred.com, Google might show me this result first, instead of the Big Red soda company or others. – Previously, we only offered Personalized Search for signed-in users, and only when they had Web History enabled on their Google Accounts. What we’re doing today is expanding Personalized Search so that we can provide it to signed-out users as well. This addition enables us to customize search results for you based upon 180 days of search activity linked to an anonymous cookie in your browser. It’s completely separate from your Google Account and Web History (which are only available to signed-in users). You’ll know when we customize results because a “View customizations” link will appear on the top right of the search results page. Clicking the link will let you see how we’ve customized your results and also let you turn off this type of customization.”
SEL: “The days of ‘normal’ search results that everyone sees are now over. Personalized results are the ‘new normal,’ and the change is going to shift the search world and society in general in unpredictable ways. … Does this mean SEO is dead? No. I’ve warned since before 2003 that search results would be getting more personalized. Still, for many queries, there will continue to be “normal” results until Google harvests enough information to start personalizing them. SEO remains important to ensure that you’ve got that first shot at being considered. … Still, make no mistake. ‘Normal’ is dead. While people can opt-out of personalized results, I doubt few will do so. … Don’t get me wrong. I think personalized search is a good thing. I think using the data in this way makes plenty of sense, will help search results, and it’s not like Google or the other search engines weren’t already logging it this way. But the shift deserves more attention than it received through a Friday afternoon rollout. The passing of old ‘normal’ results deserves a better obituary than that. Attention must be paid. Searchers, site owners and others – take note.“
Google: “First, social search results will now be mixed throughout your results based on their relevance (in the past they only appeared at the bottom). … Second, we’ve made Social Search more comprehensive by adding notes for links people have shared on Twitter and other sites. … Third, we’ve given you more control over how you connect accounts, and made connecting accounts more convenient. … As always, you’ll only get social search results when you choose to log in to your Google Account. We’re starting to roll out the updates today on Google.com in English only and you’ll see them appear in the coming week.”
GigaOM: “Google is slowly finding its social legs and is rolling out a set of improvements to its search product that help it keep pace with rivals, who are increasingly weaving social signals into search results. … It’s not the social layer that Google is said to be working on. But it’s another sign that shows Google is figuring out how social fits into its existing properties. The pressure is on the web giant to sort out its strategy in search as rivals like Bing and upstarts Blekko, Greplin, Wajam and others bring the fight to Google.”
FC: “This is a clever, if subtle, way to inject a little extra social relevance into Google’s core business of search, and it will make Googling something seem a little more personalized than simply interacting with a blind, international giant digital tool. It also differentiates it from competitors, like the fast-growing Bing… Will this trick work to convince us Google’s good at social media? Is this the very first layer of social network technology that may become the rumored Google Me social network? We can’t tell. Maybe we’ll Google it up and see what our friends, co-workers and that girl from the coffee shop we once Twittered think.”
RWW: “This, however, is personalization taken to another level. This is personalization in the form of looking at who you know, who you’re connected to on various social networks, and ranking content according to who created it and who shared it. We were told that Google will even go a step further and look at content shared by friends of friends. … Your friends don’t have to even have a Google profile for their content to show up in your search. If you’re friends with them on Twitter and you connect your Twitter account, you can see what they share on Twitter in your search results. … A move to create another, stand-alone social network would seem like folly to some, especially with the company’s track record when it comes to social. This move, on the other hand, feels just right. Gather the information and use it as yet another signal on what is relevant to your search.”