Commentary

Many Cite 'Creepy Factor' In Personalized Search

Third Door Media's inaugural search event for SMX kicked off Monday on a pleasantly overcast day in Seattle. I was only able to attend the first day, but here's my report on "Personalized Search: Fear or Not" session.

Moderated by Danny Sullivan, the presentation was one of the most lively and thought-provoking of the day. Panelists were fellow Search Insider columnist Gord Hotchkiss (Enquiro), Matt Cutts (Google), Michael Gray (Atlas Web Service) and Tim Mayer (Yahoo).

Cutts said that personalization does not kill SEO, and also noted that most people don't have a problem with it, as evidenced by their continued use of Google search and apps. Mayer took issue at one point, saying that Google lacks transparency in this area, and suggested that a more likely scenario is that most users are not fully aware of personalization.

Gray did not mince words about what he thought of Google's new approach. He suggested that personalization will "dumb down" the average searcher, in the sense that they may quit improving their search chops as long as they know that Google always has the right answer.

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Sullivan took an informal audience poll, asking if they have either embraced personalization, had no clue it even existed, or if they avoided it altogether and thought it was just plain creepy. Most of the hands raised counted toward the creepy factor.

While the perceptions of the search marketer and optimizer may be anomalous when compared to the average searcher, it is important to note that many in this sophisticated search audience were still not convinced from a user standpoint, and would clearly like to have the option to easily turn personalization on and off. Only time will tell if this attitude carries over to mainstream searchers as awareness broadens. Or maybe personalized search will get so good that the creepy factor will no longer be an issue.

Hotchkiss emphasized to the audience that personalization is not going away, and what we are seeing now is nothing like what it will become. Based on what Cutts said over the course of the session, as long as personalization increases relevance and helps searchers find what they are looking for, then it will continue to be a key element in the future of search. And everyone will have to adapt.

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