Look how old this is! I post at SearchCommander.com now, and this post was published 15 years ago. This industry changes FAST, so blindly following the advice here *may not* be a good idea! If you're at all unsure, feel free to hit me up on Twitter and ask.
There were a few changes at Google this month which I’ve been pointing out to clients, so I’m posting them here too.
I added the month to my title, because I expect we’ll be seeing a lot more of these types of game changers as time goes on.
You & I See Different Search Results
On December 4, while I was in Los Angeles at an Affiliate Convention session, a rumble went through the crowd after someone shouted out “Hey, Google is showing personalized results to everyone whether they’re signed in or not”!
Now there are search industry pundits that think it’s a good thing, those that think it’s a bad thing, and those that think that it really doesn’t matter but there’s no denying that it changes the game.
All end users will now see more varied search results than someone else. Even though this has already been taking place for a while based on their IP location and Google data center differences, now, those differences will become even more substantial based on their browsing history.
(Is it based on the whole IP address? Is it just per browser? Is there a machine or CPU ID? I don’t yet know – do you?)
Real Time Search
The personalized results change was overshadowed in the media by some big announcements on December 7th, primarily about their new real time search.
It’s hard to replicate on demand, because it only shows up for highly active topics, like a search fopr “Obama Speech” in the couple of days following one, or search for a news event as one is happening, like “winter solstice 2009” you’ll see an actual moving/scrolling section of the latest news and Twitter Tweets in what’s practically real time.
Do you think this will add to the current noise level in social media and news? I sure do, and I call it a “game changer” because of all the auto posting that will now undoubtedly be put on steroids, in anticipation of this expanding further.
Google Goggles
Take a photo with your cell phone, and Google will tell you what it is. Cool for the Eiffel Tower, but is seems to have pretty creepy potential issues for that woman sitting alone in a bar, isn’t it? Check out their short video…
Wherever you fall on the potential privacy issues, I do think that the technology is going to be a game changer as it continues to evolve.
Keeping You on Google Properties
Google is delivering more and more information to users without then needing to leave the results page. Lokk at a search for your favorite football team as an example, where you can see the score, their leading rusher, and the date and opponent for their next game without clicking through.
(Do you think this is a fair representation of what Rupert Murdoch is concerned with? You can see the image from the NY Times, and the info coming from the Atlanta Journal Constitution)
*** Update – 4pm ****
Oops – Looks like this last item below was just more browser monkey business – AdWare – called “Browser Highlighter”, on my computer. I guess I jumped to conclusions, but with so many other Google changes this month, it really didn’t surprise me all that much!
Selling the Front Page
Just this minute, I’m seeing color Ebay ads on the front page, while I’m not even signed in to Google.
Is it a sponsored ad? No… Is it a pay for placement? Pay for inclusion? Is is Pay Per Action, where Google gets a piece if a sale is made? Who knows?
So, in addition to PPC ads, we’re now going to see this sort of paid result, further moving the organic SERPS lower on the priority list and in some cases, well below the fold.
Where’s Amazon, and can they bid against Ebay? I wonder how long it will be before there are other brand banners, perhaps even larger? Will they be doing the same thing inside Google’s Wonder wheel?
I guess we’ll be finding out soon, as Google continues to change the game for everyone, consumers and marketers alike….
Scott,
I’ve been reading all the hand-wringing that many people in our industry have been doing, but I, for one, have been pleased with the results for my own searches.
I feel as though my SERP results are full of content from people that I know and trust. When that’s not the case, as with a big story, I like reading what people are saying.
I’m not a huge fan of the embedded Tweets, but I think the filter will get better with time.
From a professional standpoint, however, I can see this going in an ominous direction, and that’s the issue. If I like my search results, Google probably knows that many people like their results – which makes SEO & other online marketing even harder as Google puts a stranglehold on the Web.
and we all go gently into that good night…
Yep, and smarter marketers have been working with clients for a while now, to enhance the visitor experience and improve conversion rates – Unfortunately, many clients don’t see the forest through the trees, and they still think rankings are the most important thing.
So what happened with the “Compare on eBay” example that caused you to cross it out? That’s pretty huge if they’re working on an exclusive deal with eBay or something.
Maybe I’m late to the game, but when did Adwords start allowing pictures in their ads? I did a search on Dog Food, and 3 ads to the right had pictures of dog food!
Well, the strikethrough text was my own fault. I jumped to conclusions, and that Ebay thing was a piece pf Adware – clever and insidious, but not sent by Google 😉
The images though, coming from product search, and yeah, that’s another big change, from before late last month – a November Game Changer. Expect to see that more and more, i’ll bet…
This move towards personalization is very disturbing to me as a web user as well as an SEO. To me it seems like now that Google is a huge mega corporation they have no problem helping the other big companies out more than they deserve. Google has forgotten their roots. Or maybe Google is so focused on fighting spam that they are throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Thank goodness we still have Yahoo and Bing.
As for Goggles, Google has the problem that most technologists have in that they can’t always see the dark side of their inventions. I see cyber-stalking possibly taking on a whole new creepy level with this new tool. And reputation management will extend out into your shopping trip at the mall, not just to worrying about what your new and former acquaintances and nosy neighbors are doing when they Google your name.
I also can see personalization increasingly polarizing an already overpolarized political nation. We already get TV news, papers, magazines, and radio customized to our political leanings. At least Google used to conveniently broaden our political minds a bit when, from the comfort of our chairs, we typed in a search on a political topic and got blogs from both left and right leaning people. Now we might just get pushed to blogs that we have recently read if, for example, we type in “president speech” or something like that; less chance to hear both sides of the story.