google’s new search features: has it gone too far?

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Google’s New Search Features: has it gone too far?

1st December, 2010 , Karen Blakeman

[email protected] twitter.com/karenblakemanhttp://www.rba.co.uk/

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Disclaimer

• Google search options and services can appear and disappear overnight or within the next day, hour or second

• I cannot guarantee that any of the information in the following slides is an accurate representation of what Google is possibly doing with your search strategy at the time of this presentation or in the future

• I refuse to be held responsible for cases of insanity or paranoia resulting from the reading of this presentation (lawyers on stand by!)

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A lot has been happening this year

• Bing –Yahoo deal– Yahoo to use Bing’s search engine (is it happening?)

– Bing to use Yahoo’s advertising sales team

– Yahoo will “still be innovating on top of the Bing results”

– not much happening in terms of innovative search within Bing outside of the US version

• Google has been doing lots of “stuff”– personalisation, localisation, semantic search, adding social

media to the search mix, new search features

– some “stuff” has gone or is going – Searchwiki, Google Wave

– some “stuff” has not gone but should have been killed [insert name of the Google feature/service you hate most]

• Ask has given up on search – reverted to a question and answer service

• Social media becoming part of search 11/04/23 www.rba.co.uk 3

Google playing catch-up with Bing

• Personalise the background of your home page with your own image (Bing – you are stuck with their choice)

• Scrolling page results for images (personally, I still prefer Bing’s)

• Preview web sites in results list


Web history (1)


• Google now automatically tracks your searches and what you click on

– results are “personalised” based on your searches and page views

– you do not have to be logged in to a Google account

– stored in a cookie on your computer so machine and browser specific

• Web History link appears in upper right hand corner of results page screen

– click on the link for option to disable it

Web history (2)

• Signed in to your Google account

• Google account web history – stored on Google

• Manage your web history from within your Google account


Check your ad preferences

• So you don’t have ad preferences?

• Check out http://www.google.com/ads/preferences/

• Do not have to be signed in to a Google account

• “Preferences” based on pages you view

• Information stored in cookies

– different browser, different machine = different cookies

• Ad preferences are used on any site with Google ads

• You can remove and add categories, or opt out all together

• You will still see ads if you opt out but they will be generic

• Do your ad preferences give an indication of how Google customises your search results?


http://www.google.com/ads/preferences/


Ad preferences

??

Google social search

• Included in your search results if you are signed in to your Google account – maybe

• At present in a separate box

• Will Google seamlessly integrate them into your search results?

• Do you really want Google to include information gleaned from your primary and secondary social media connections?


My social circle

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List of direct and secondary connections

Google dashboard


Google dashboard

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“Is this everything? In a nutshell, not yet.”

“There are other kinds of data that Google records when you use its services, but which are not associated with your Google Account. To protect your privacy, that data is intentionally kept separate from your Google Account and thus is not visible on this page. “

??

Starred results

• Starred results – need to signed in to a Google account• http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/03/stars-make-search-

more-personal.html


Click on the star to mark it as a “favourite”

Starred pages will appear at the top of results for similar searches

This search is on UK average house prices 1980..2009

Localisation

• Country versions

– automatically directed to what the Google thinks is your local version

– depends on your set up – can specify your default country version if you have Google Toolbar installed

– local content given preference

• Google now has an option allowing you to specify your location within your country e.g. Reading

– can be lazy with my personal searches e.g. for local restaurants for a night out with the girls!

– but a problem when carrying out broader research e.g. number of restaurants in the UK


Your location


Translated searches


19


Results from Google News

Latest results - rolling feed from Twitter, blogs, discussions


Images

Wikipedia article

Blog posting listing videos

YouTube video

Results from my “social circle”: Twitter, RSS feeds, FriendFeed, Google Wave contacts etc.

Videos

• Additional search features in left hand side menu

• Changes as you select different options


Google Realtime

• http://www.google.com/realtime

• Said to search Twitter, Facebook, news, blogs but Twitter dominates

• “Anytime” loses sort by date/time and timeline


Google Instant• Coming to a Google near you (depends on country, browser, platform)

• Already the default on Google.com

• On Google.co.uk if you are signed in to your Google account

• Tries to predict what you are searching for as you type and changes results accordingly


Yahoo was there in 2005...


Google Instant

• Only displays 10 results at a time

• Lose the Wonderwheel option from the left hand menu on results page

• Can no longer disable suggestions from Settings page

• To disable Google Instant

– click on “Google Instant is on” link next to search box on results page and select the off option

or

– switch it off under Settings

• See

– Karen Blakeman's Blog: Google Instant – display results as you type

– http://www.rba.co.uk/wordpress/2010/09/09/google-instant-display-results-as-you-type/

– Karen Blakeman's Blog: Seriously irritating things about Google Instant

– http://www.rba.co.uk/wordpress/2010/09/10/seriously-irritating-things-about-google-instant/


Turning off Instant Search and suggestions

• Turn both Google suggestions and Instant search off type http://www.google.com/webhp?complete=0&hl=en in the address bar of your browser and click search or press the return/enter key.

• Turn Instant search off but keep the Google suggestions: http://www.google.com/webhp?complete=1&instant=0&hl=en

• Turn both services back on: http://www.google.com/webhp?complete=1&instant=1&hl=en


Inconsistent and irreproducible results

Presents problems for those of us who help and advise others on search strategies. What appears on your screen may not

be appearing on theirs

All depends on country version used, browser, version of browser, operating system, platform, logged in to a Google

account or not, web history, starred results, searcher location specified or not, language, which server Google happens to send your search to, Google experiments, is there an r in the

month, is there a full moon, am I going mad.....


Many thanks to Even Hartmann Flood, Senior Academic Librarian, Norges Teknisk-Naturvitenskapelige Universitet (NTNU) for his help and research with the following examples


• Exploration of the Norne oil field in Google Scholar

• Google Scholar unhelpfully looks for the author Horne as well


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• Switch to searching Google Scholar in Norwegian and an exact match search is carried out and no “Horne”

• Swedish – we are back to norne/horne

Google Scholar doesn’t even have the courtesy to ask “Did you mean...”

Thanks to Sara Batts for the original problem – Google Scholar insisting on searching for “effect “ instead of EFET


Google Web search does an exact match. Have to prefix term in GS with ‘+’ to force exact match

Even Flood takes up the chase...

• Google Scholar using Norwegian language carries out an exact match search – EFET only

• Changing the language to Swedish gives a lot of hits on an author named K Efe - hitherto not mentioned


“Madness, you hear, madness”


“Don’t be evil?” (aka as the Google ice cream man, or search in YouTube on eric schmidt ice cream)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ouof1OzhL8k


google’s new search features: has it gone too far?

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