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Is Personalized Search Dangerous? 
By: Steven Bradley 2007-02-07 Late last week Google began rolling out personalized search. I have no doubt that the new system will lead to more relevant results for the majority of searches. But I do have some strong reservations about personalized search, a few specific to Google and a few about personalizing search in general. Danny Sullivan posted an excellent write up, Google Ramps Up Personalized Search, and since hes done a far better job than I would reviewing the new features Ill let you read his overview to answer any questions about how the new search system will work. The main reason for personalized search is obvious and is summed up in a simple statement on the Google Blog:
The way they can know is by getting to know you more through things like your search history. If youve performed searches in the past for guitars and drums or clicked on results with a musical leaning in the past its likely you want to know about bass guitars when you performed your search for bass. By getting to know you better Google will be able to present more relevant results and also make recommendations based on a history of things youve previously shown an interest in. It all sounds good, but not everyone thinks so, myself included. Graywolf posted a couple times over the weekend about his dislike for personalized search.Im not sure Id go so far as to say Google should kill personalized search, but I too have my concerns. Before I get to them let me say I think the majority of users are going to like the new more personalized results. For most people the results will be more relevant and most people will be happy not having to spend time refining queries to find exactly what they want. More often than not when were searching we probably are looking for something weve shown a past interest in. I also have faith in the smart people at Google figuring out ways to use data about me to truly make search results more in line with whats out there about me. The system is too new to make judgments about how well it works, but I feel confident the more you use it and let Google record your search history the better youll find the system working. So why do I have reservations about a system I think most people will like and find helpful and one that I think will ultimately prove to work very well? Google Specific Concerns First I think Google has done a few things wrong in their implementation of personalized search. For one its automatically on if youre signed into anything Google. Log into gmail, Webmaster Central, Reader, Docs and Spreadsheets, etc. If youre signed into a Google account and decide to search at Google youre using personalized search. The only way to get the more general search is to sign out. It sounds easy enough, but how practical is it to to be reading your mail log out to perform a search and log back into gmail to read the rest of whats awaiting you in your inbox. Or how about everyone who is logged in always to their Google home page. Reality says the majority will be using personalized search always. Whats more even if you do want out it might be easy to forget which search system you are using unless you have set up a personal home page and are searching from that. Think of all the other places online where you might be using Google search while not on the Google home page proper. Google needs to offer us a better way to opt out of the system. We should all be opted out on default. Further Google needs to let us know whenever possible whether or not we are logged in or out before performing a search. Another Google specific problem is the way they keep track of your search history. You can turn search history off, which will also opt you out of personalized search, but then you do lose that history if you want back in to the system. Is that really true though? While you can clear your own search history Google will still be retaining the data on their servers. Havent we learned enough from the AOL debacle. I dont expect search engines to stop collecting search data. Theres simply too many ways they can use the information, but if you want to clear your history you should be allowed to clear your history. Theres no reason the information needs to be saved forever. I also have one potential concern with the way Google might handle personalized search in the future. From Google Accounts Help:
Generic Search Concerns My main concerns with personalized search are more general and not Google specific. Im going to have the same concerns when Yahoo and Live Search and Ask roll out their versions of personalized search. My main concern is that tying search results to search history will limit personal growth and risks locking people into a set of thoughts. Let me use the same oversimplified example I used earlier. You clearly have an interest in bass guitars, but this coming weekend you and a few buddies are thinking of going fishing for bass. When you type bass as a query are you going to see any results about bass fishing on page one? page two? How far might you have to go to find a good place to buy a fishing pole? Not necessarily a dangerous thing and it is quite simplified. How about this example. A few years ago you were a big supporter of the US war in Iraq. Every time you searched for something related to the war you showed an interest in information favorable to US policy. Youre a life long conservative. Fast forward to today and youve begun to question those same policies. Youre still conservative, but your initial support is wavering and youd like to find some information about why the war might not be such a good thing. Are you going to be able to find that information easily? Or are your searches going to continue to return the same results they always have? Is personalized search going to allow us to change our minds? Will it easily allow us to question thoughts we hold and look for alternative points of view? Yes. I know. the answer is simple. Sign out of personalized search. But will people really be signing in and out of their accounts all the time. Think to the future when its become common to be always logged in to some search property and also think how youve generally been happy with the personalized results youve been receiving over the years. Are you going to remember to sign out before searching? Are you even going to remember that if you do youll see different results. I think the you that is reading this probably will remember those things, but can you say the same about the general You than makes up the majority of the world? You might think Im exaggerating some here and that getting locked into the same thought patterns wont happen. Ill even agree that at first it probably wont. But in time it will. It will happen just as spell check has eroded peoples ability to spell and recognize mistakes in grammar. Sure you spelled their right, but didnt you mean to use theyre? As we come to rely on systems, particularly systems that work well, we forget how not to rely on those systems. We are creatures of habit and my concern is at some point we wont sign out. Im sure if we refine queries enough we will be able to find that alternative point of view, but I question whether or not we will and I question whether or not we should have to. Isnt the idea of searching to find something you didnt know about? If Ive shown a strong interest in bass guitars dont you think I already know where to find them? Are these concerns well-founded? I dont know. Theyre just concerns I have and its quite possible Im wrong or some very bright engineers will figure out ways to make sure these things dont happen. Google may make some changes to ensure we can opt out more easily. They may still show plenty of results that arent based on search history or other things they know about us. Its far too early to know how the system will work and what results well see. And in fairness to Google and personalized search in general Im willing to take a wait and see attitude. But I get the feeling the more we use personalized search the more we will begin to see our own ever shrinking corner of the web. And I think that may very well be a dangerous thing. Comments Add to  Del.icio.us |  Digg |  Reddit |  Furl Have a bookmark! -  About the Author: Steven Bradley is a web designer and search engine optimization specialist. Known to many in the webmaster/seo community by the username vangogh, he is the author of TheVanBlog, which focuses on how to build and optimize websites and market them online. |
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