Big brother’s not watching

Good news for Kiwis concerned about their privacy online is that search engine Google has admitted it does not personalise search results – which is also good and bad news for companies trying to sell services and products online.

Google’s concession is important because more than 95 per cent of New Zealanders rely on Google to browse the Internet over any other search engine.

CEO of Auckland digital marketing agency Insight Online, Kim Voon, said today that for more than a decade there’s been a widespread belief that everybody turns up a different Google search result based on their browsing habits, but it’s a myth, and it’s one that even exists within the SEO industry.

“Apart from your location, or the immediate context of a prior search, Google will pretty much deliver you the same results it does to everybody else,” Voon said.

“That’s good news for consumers because we can finally rest easy in the knowledge that we’re not bouncing around in some echo chamber because an algorithm thinks that’s what we wanted to see.”

Voon said Google has acknowledged that attempting to personalise search does not help people find what they want and hardly adds to the quality of search results, mostly because humans are complicated.

“Your search results do not define who you are as a human being. The context behind every search query is just too big for Google to try to understand. It also suggests that we’re not that much different from each other – we all want to find and see the same things.”

On the flipside, there are both gains and pains for businesses.

The fact that everybody more or less sees the same results – filtered by location – means that businesses have less opportunity to stand out in the crowd and instead have to compete in the same big pond as everybody else.

“The good news is that marketing activities like Google Ads and search engine optimisation have a much better chance of success than if there was personalisation – it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to cater to the individual wishes of a thousand people.

“Google thought that personalisation would improve the search experience, but testing demonstrates that it doesn’t.”

For more information visit: https://insightonline.co.nz/

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