Personalized Search and You: An Introduction

Posted on Jan 30, 2007 by Melanie to SEO

Personalized Search seems to be popping its head up in marketing circles as well as search engine development news. So, what is Personalized Search and how is it going to affect the future of how we Google, Yahoo, LiveSearch and Ask? Basically it is the fine-tuning of search results and advertising based on an individual’s preferences, demographic information and other factors. As the technology evolves, the better a search engine understands a user’s interests and preferences, the better able it is to target search results, advertising, sponsored links and so forth.

The same techniques used in personalizing web content are now being used to make search more personal. The process is not an easy one as it requires technology to learn a user’s preferences and then automatically apply that knowledge to the universe of web content, advertising and sponsored links. Each Search Engine has their own specific algorithm and technology to do this, but they all require the ability to the following

- Determine preference and demographic information from users in a way that does not interfere with their online experience.

- Analyze content and advertising traits are the best predictors of relevance for users.

- Categorize and filter content based on those characteristics.

- Present results in a way that is easy for users to understand.

The end result of applying personalization to search technology is an enhanced search experience with:

- Sponsored links that are targeted at users based on their tastes, interests and recent search histories to increase the likelihood of a click through.

- Ads based on user preferences as well as terms entered by users.

- Premium paid inclusion that targets search results at higher quality prospects.

- Web search results that can be organized by style, meaning, category, etc. and can be presented under a personal results tab so as not to displace unfiltered results.

As search constantly changes and evolves, so must our marketing tactics. By staying ahead of the curve and following its course, we can provide higher visibility to websites that need to be seen and people want to see. I don’t believe this will change SEO drastically as organic search and ads will continue to be prevalent within this new technology. After all, evolution is a necessary part of the world of online search.

Tags: personalized search

Google Announces Personalized Search

Posted on Dec 13, 2006 by Michelle to SEO

Google is one of the first major search engines to test this new “Personalized Search” technology. This month alone, Google has released a total of 15 new patent applications relating to this new technology.

They have already begun testing many of these new search features in Google’s personalized search http://www.google.com/psearch, which is currently in beta test mode.

Because traditional algorithmic search engines have reached a pinnacle, “personalized search” is just a natural, and necessary, progression for Google.

The following is an abstract from one of the Google patents entitled, Systems and methods for analyzing a user’s web history http://tinyurl.com/ycdhxl:

A user’s prior searching and browsing activities are recorded for subsequent use. A user may examine the user’s prior searching and browsing activities in a number of different ways, including indications of the user’s prior activities related to advertisements. A set of search results may be modified in accordance with the user’s historical activities. The user’s activities may be examined to identify a set of preferred locations. The user’s set of activities may be shared with one or more other users. The set of preferred locations presented to the user may be enhanced to include the preferred locations of one or more other users. A user’s browsing activities may be monitored from one or more different client devices or client application. A user’s browsing volume may be graphically displayed.

Basically, what that abstract is saying, is that over time we develop a history of search queries, results that were clicked, advertisements that were click, and a bunch of other browsing activities. Each one of these actions define what our preferences and interests are. Additionally, Google has mentioned that they may begin tracking users instant messaging, word processing, participation in chat rooms, and internet phone calls in later editions.

Within Google’s “personalized search”, users will be able to access their past search and/or browsing activities to enhance their overall experience. Google is hoping that their past actions will help to define what they are ultimately looking for, or will help to provide a related area of interest. Google’s “personalized search” will also allow users create and manage their own profile, which will act in helping define what they are searching for.

Another cool feature, that is sure to have SEO gurus spinning, is that a user’s search activites may play a part in the ranking of search results. For example, if a website is visted frequently by a user, it could have it’s placement boosted based on the number of times the user has visited before. Google might track how long the user stays at any given website. A site that is bookmarked and visited frequently will almost always rank higher. Now this is great feature if you site gets found and visited frequently by users. But if not, your site might get pushed to the bottom of the barrell for a lesser site that gets more frequent visitors.

What does this mean for you as a webmaster and SEO? It means that your focus should be on quality. In creating your website, you must emphasize visitor optimization and content optimization over search engine optimization.

Tags: google, personalized search