|
Google Personalizes Their Search Experience
Friday, April 29, 2005
Yesterday, Google officially (beta-wise) removed the wraps on
their venture into the personal search arena. Judging by early impressions,
Google's personal search service appears to be receiving a warm
welcome.
With the beta launch of the My Search History feature,
Google officially joins Yahoo's MyYahooSearch, Ask's MyJeeves service,
Amazon.com's A9.com, and Eurekster.com (among others) in offering
personalized search features. These services are part of an effort
to personalize the entire search process; something many search
industry insiders have been anxiously awaiting.
While Google may have been late to the personalized search party,
their arrival will probably be the one people remember most. Whenever
Google offers something of this magnitude, the entire Internet industry
takes notice. Perhaps we should file Google's fashionably late arrival
under the "Better Late Than Never" category, because the
functionality of Google My Search History certainly makes them a
welcome member.
Using My Search History
In order to use Google's personalized search services, you must
have an account, (any Google account will do, including Gmail, AdWords
or AdSense). For those who do not have an account, Google provides
a sign-up feature, allowing you to access the My Search History
features. Once you have an active account, you can start experiencing
Google's personalized search service, which keeps track of ALL the
searches you've conducted while signed in.
To access Google's MSH, sign in using the links, which now appear
in the upper right-hand corner of Google's homepage (click for screenshot).
Once you've signed in, every search you conduct will be recorded
by Google and is accessible by clicking the My Search History link,
which also resides in the upper right. The link takes you to a page
(click for screenshot), detailing the searches you've conducted
and what links you've clicked from your results.
Google's personal search history also keeps track of searches that
were done with no clicked results.
Not only does Google provide all of the above information, you
can also use the MSH calendar feature to determine what days you
most actively used Google search.
The motive behind their personalized search service is explained
in Google's blog:
How many times have you used Google to find an obscure funny website
or fun facts about "The Wizard of Oz," but then got distracted
by other web pages and tasks? I know - me too. Wouldn't it be great
to find them again, and for that matter review all your Google searches
over time? Which is exactly why we built My Search History.
Currently, the following browsers support MSH:
- Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 and newer
- Firefox
- Netscape 6.0 and newer
- Mozilla
- Safari 1.2 and newer
- Privacy Matters
In case you are wondering, Google stores all of the information
used in MSH. How Google uses this information is covered by their
privacy policy and the privacy FAQ, which indicates information
will not be disseminated to other parties, unless you request it
to be. If privacy is indeed an issue for you, keep in mind that
you can delete unwanted search entries from your personal history,
keeping your search habits safe.
Not only that, but MSH users can pause the search history feature
at anytime, which will cause Google to stop adding searches to your
personal index. Users can also completely delete their MSH history
by pressing the appropriate button.
Of course, Google's collecting and storing of information like
this plays into the hands of people like Daniel Brandt, who feel
Google should not collect and store user information to begin with.
As for the business ramifications of Google's new personal service,
Andy Beal provides some insight as to where Google may be headed
with MSH. In his post discussing further details about Google's
newest beta, Andy offers:
I speculated yesterday that the new service could end up either
display AdWords ads or using the data to provide more info to AdWords
advertisers. According to the [USAToday], that is not in their immediate
plans...
Whatever their business model is for MSH, the fact that they now
have a personalized service will only benefit Google users…
provided they give it a chance and use it.
|
