Google Makes Fundamental Changes to Search Results
Posted by Jim Hedger in 
Google has made a fundamental change to the way it ranks websites. Over the past three years, Google has been placing increasing emphasis on localized and personalized search results. This week, the search engine moved from being a general search engine to being an almost entirely local search engine.
Google is now rewarding locally based businesses who take advantage of the Google Places mapping program. Dave Davies of Beanstalk-Inc. and I covered the topic on our WebmasterRadio.FM program Webcology earlier today in an episode titled, “Google Places Incorporated into Organic SERPs” (Link leads to podcast)
Facebook and (de)Privacy Settings
Facebook has a long and tangled history with the concept of personal privacy. By its nature, Facebook opens two way window to the world, allowing you to see an enormous amount of information about other Facebook users and them to see an enormous amount of information about you. For many, the ability to see deeply into the lives of their friends and contacts is unendingly interesting. For marketers, that ability is absofreakenlootly amazing, so amazing in fact that some marketing firms will do almost anything to attain the ability including violating Facebook’s own privacy policies and the privacy laws of several nation states.
Earlier this month, Facebook took the unprecedented step of shutting down several games and applications which collect information about their subscribers. They did this because those application makers were selling the information they collected to large-scale marketing firms who in turn used that information to pad consumer profile dossiers and sold that data to their advertising clients. Scary enough eh?
To complicate matters, it’s not just your own privacy you need to protect. Facebook games and applications tend to be based on interaction between Facebook members and that requires allowing the application to extract information about your friends to create as complete a picture as possible of the web of personal networks that make up the Facebook universe.
Think about this for a second. One set of connections leads to another which in turn leads to other sets of connections. As with the concept of six-degrees of separation, designers of extremely popular games can eventually capture a fairly accurate snapshot of the entire population of Facebook users. In other words, you are not just protecting yourself; you’re helping to protect a large chunk of the world’s population.
Unfortunately, all the personal security in the world is useless unless everyone in that world also takes measures to protect themselves and their data, or, unless Facebook itself makes a serious crackdown on application makers and the marketers who pay for the data. While Facebook is making the effort, it is unlikely to be able to stem a tide that has already washed ashore. In other words, once the cat is out of the box it is very difficult to get it back in again.
Consumers have had the ability to protect themselves all along though most have no idea how to do that, aside from disconnecting entirely. So how, without fully opting out of the social networking scene does one protect their privacy while still enjoying use of popular applications and games? Here is a quick run-down of the personal privacy settings allowed by Facebook.
Friends Settings
If you look to the top right side of your Facebook screen, the furthest tab to the right is a drop-down menu marked Account. The first link under the Account tab lets you see your friend list. Placed in alphabetical order this link allows you to view and group your friends list in a number of ways. The default view shows friends you’ve recently interacted with. This allows you to visit your friends’ pages to see exactly how you interacted with them. It is not entirely accurate however. For instance, my girlfriend and I share and like each others posts regularly but I don’t see her name come up on my recent interactions list. Other views include All Friends, Recently Added and a variety of location and interest based options.
Beside each image and name is an X allowing you to “de-friend” or delete the person from your account. It should be noted that even though you might delete a person from your network of friends, interactions between you and them will remain active on Facebook servers forever.
The next link in the drop-down menu is for pages you might have established as part of a group or a business. There are likely few privacy concerns to be found here as legitimate businesses tend to operate in the open and if you’re running an illegal business with a Facebook group, you’re too stupid to worry about privacy settings anyway.
The third link in the Account drop-down menu, Account Settings is extremely important for establishing and maintaining privacy on Facebook. This is the area in which you can set what information is visible on your Facebook profile page. The Account Settings section is divided into four main areas, Basic Directory Information, Sharing on Facebook, Applications and Websites, and Block Lists.
Basic Directory Information controls how you want to present yourself to the world through your profile. This is the area that lets you say who can and can not see your news posts, your friends list, your hometown and current location, and other information about your present and past. By default, everything is set for everyone to see. Beside each option is a button allowing you to set preferences from “Everyone” to “Friends only”. Resetting your preferences has implications over who can and can not connect with you. These settings also have implications surrounding what information Facebook says it shares with third parties such as game and application developers. According to Facebook’s Terms of Service,
When you use an application, your content and information is shared with the application. We require applications to respect your privacy, and your agreement with that application will control how the application can use, store, and transfer that content and information. (To learn more about Platform, read our Privacy Policy and About Platform page.)[source: http://www.facebook.com/settings/?tab=privacy#!/terms.php]
That said, Facebook doesn’t have a lot of control over what application makers might actually do with your personal information once they get it. A recent study conducted by Microsoft India and the Max Planck Institute for Software Systems in Germany (link: PDF http://saikat.guha.cc/pub/imc10-ads.pdf) demonstrated that advertising networks use private information, including data indicating sexual orientation, to target advertising to consumers who have clearly been personally identified.
Facebook also gives you the ability to control the information application makers and game designers extract from your account though there is no way of actually verifying that privacy settings prevent marketers from gaining your information. You can however see when an application last extracted information from your account and what that information is.
At the bottom of the Privacy Settings page, accessed from the ACCOUNT tab, you can edit your Applications and Websites settings. The first screen you’ll see shows you the applications or games you most frequently use. Clicking on the name of the application will show you your last usage and will also show you information on the application developer. The more details link on that page shows you what information was extracted by the developer and when. Unfortunately, following up on this information is extremely time consuming as each application extracts data differently. Facebook thus lists each application separately and you the user must examine each specifically to see what was done when. Even more unfortunately, the only way to prevent such applications from extracting that information is to delete them from your account. You did, after all, give them permission when you signed up for their service.
Users of MySpace, FourSquare and other social media tools also face extraordinary privacy concerns. Most social media tools are built on sharing personal information with larger networks. As stated earlier, digital marketers live and die by that information. Perhaps the only true way to shield your privacy is to shun social networks but, for most of us who have become accustomed to gleaning information and entertainment through our social networks, that is hardly an option. The only real way personal information is going to be protected is at the platform level. In other words, the onus is on Facebook, MySpace and other interactive networks to guarantee their users’ privacy. Facebook did take a mighty swing at several application makers in a “big-stick” attempt to meet user privacy concerns but few fully believe that Facebook can actually prevent application developers from parceling and selling private info to marketing firms.
For now, check your own settings regularly, modify your passwords from time to time and be very, very careful who you allow into your personal information space.
What is Search in 2010?
What, exactly, is search? The question is deceptively simple but finding a precise answer is surprisingly difficult. After a dozen years in the industry, you would think I would know a number of ways to answer the question but, after a dozen years in the industry I know enough to know my answer could change in an instant.
Search has come a long way from the earliest days of Alta Vista, Yahoo and Infoseek. Formerly a domain characterized by 10 – 20 blue links generated by a two – three keyword query, search has grown to encompass virtually every aspect of a user’s experience on the Web. Search happens even when an Internet user is unaware it is happening. Information references are generated, delivered and followed as a matter of course and not necessarily as a matter of user-choice.
Search has segmented into several styles. The major search engines, Google and Bing continue to define search as we knew it though each are adding new signals on a daily basis to their ranking algorithms. Recently, Bing added social recommendations or “likes” by friends on Facebook to its ranking algorithm, one of the strongest signals that Bing is personalizing search results the new engine has ever sent.
It can be argued that social recommendations fostered by Facebook and, to a lesser degree, Twitter are forms of search as information passed drives a user from one place to another on the web. That such information is not necessarily directly requested does not diminish the power of the user-action or the faith the user has in the information provider.
How the changes in how a search engine determines which signals to accentuate and which to ignore affect results remains to be seen. How these known signals will affect the work of search engine optimization professionals is fairly clear. SEOs and SEMs will have to spend a lot more time mining social media applications on behalf of their clients. The job of a SEO is to make web documents visible in search engines and other information applications. Getting a link to a client page in the news feeds of as many Facebook users as possible is a method of making client documents visible. It is also simply good SEO as we now know that those links are counted quite highly by Bing and by Google.
Thoughts on Bing and Facebook Recommendations
Search, as both a business and as a puzzle is getting exciting again. For several years, we have laboured under a monolithic and virtually monopolistic culture ruled by Google and its brilliant but constantly flawed PageRank algorithm. This week’s announcement of the deal between Facebook and Bing to include social recommendations (or “likes”) is likely to force change both at Google and in the way digital marketers market their clients’ digital assets.
By including social recommendations as a signal in its ranking algorithm, Bing is using an innovative way to include the ideas of general web-users in determining how relevant a page, document or web property will be to individual users. Social recommendation both personalizes and localizes search results in a way that gives a search user access to their friend’s opinions as opposed to the opinions of invisible and often unknown webmasters or link builders.
Though the move in and of itself is not likely to have serious impacts on Google’s popularity, over time it will help Bing increase its market share. It will also help Bing and Yahoo! better ad-targeting by giving Bing access to the profile information freely supplied by Facebook users.
For webmasters and search engine marketing specialists, the addition of social recommendation to Bing’s general algorithm provides an easy method of moving a website higher in search results, provided enough people click the soon to be ubiquitous Like button on client pages.
Adding a Facebook Like or Recommend button to a web page or document is extremely easy and fully explained at the Developers section in Facebook.
There are a number of questions search marketers need to answer before fully understanding the implications of social recommendation as a means of ranking web documents. Off the top of my head, I can think of three easy ways to game social recommendations and I’ve not really put much effort into thinking about it. Aside from the obvious, here are a four questions I would like answers to before making any further comment on the SEO value of social recommendations:
- How much power does a “like” recommendation have over a number of relevant incoming links?
- What is the active-lifespan of a “like”?
- How long will it take for Bing to be “like-spammed” and what will they do to verify Facebook user profiles?
Whatever the answers to these (and dozens of other) questions, the deal between Facebook and Bing will unquestionably open a new set of signals in search. The face of our industry is changing and that change is known as Facebook. Things are getting interesting again.
Alan K’necht to speak at eMetrics Marketing Optimization Summit – Apr 25
Alan will be discussing Social Media analytics on the "Social Media Metrics: Drive with Care" panel at the Toronto eMetrics Marketing Optimization Summit (April 23 - 26).
Hear Jim Hedger’s views and interviews on Webcology @WebmasterRadio.FM
Digital Always Media Creative Partner, Jim Hedger takes a look at the business and technique of web marketing on Webcology, live each Thursday at 2pm Eastern, 11am Pacific on WebmasterRadio.FM. FEATURED BOOK : The Last Original Idea
The Last Original Idea actually is an original idea - highly unusual in a world where "recycle" is the order of the day. It takes a light hearted look at the state of Internet marketing today and traces back each of the elements to its historical roots, clearly demonstrating that companies who understood the mistakes of the past were able to be profitable in the present. Others are a mere memory, lost in cyber-space.
Alan K’necht
For over a decade, Alan K’necht has successfully run search marketing campaigns and multiple training courses on search engine optimization, web analytics, Webtrends, Google Analtyics, Site Catalyst, Social Media Marketing and Twitter. In 1998, he incorporated his company, K’nechtology Inc. and quickly became a recognized authority and frequent speaker at web and Internet marketing conferences around the world. He has contributed hundreds of articles to industry publications and has been interviewed by leading publications including the Wallstreet Journal, Cnet, CBC Radio, National Post, WebmasterRadio and many others.
Jim Hedger
Jim Hedger is an organic SEO and digital marketing specialist. Jim has been deeply involved in the online marketing industry since 1998, as a SEO since 1999. He is best known as a prolific content writer, search industry commentator, WebmasterRadio.FM show host and conference interviewer. He is also a frequent conference speaker and organizer.
Jim brings a wealth of knowledge, experience, passion and creative thinking to each project. Preferring a teamwork approach, Jim strives to inform and train clients and/or their staff, leaving them better equipped to manage their online marketing efforts.
Jim is co-host of Webcology on WebmasterRadio.FM. Webcology is popular weekly live-to-air broadcast with archived podcasts dating back to October 25, 2007. Webcology is heard every Thursday at 2:00pm eastern/11am pacific and is available through iTunes and on iTunes Radio.
Lyndsay Walker
Lyndsay has been an online enthusiast for almost her entire life. Beginning at age 12, she began creating websites and in 2005 made the switch to online marketing, focusing on Search Engine Optimization and Web Analytics. Her experience as a web designer has led her to become an expert at technical SEO issues.
Lyndsay has worked as an SEO expert in a variety of fields including Internet pharmacies, payday loans, travel and e-commerce, most recently heading the Online Marketing department at Canada’s Web Shop.
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