Are you ready for Google to bring Your World to your search results?
I hope so, because that's what they announced today. Your World marks the third major move toward social search. Google's goal is to transform the search engine into a tool that not only understand content, understands people and relationships.
The last two major moves made by Google included:
- Search results catered to individuals based on their search and browsing history.
- Search results include integration of profiles of those with similar interests.
Your World will include Google+ pages that are related to search terms you use in your queries. Google believes that this will put those pages in your reach easily. While Google continually reviews and asses social metrics and enhanced search, this move will make search engine results even more unique to users.
The introduction of Your World has caused major controversy, even with search engine marketing experts like Danny Sullivan.
"Until now we have not had the mixture of our personal information with our Web search results, and that makes even me a bit nervous," said Danny Sullivan, editor of Search Engine Land.
Your World could also have major drawbacks for Facebook and Twitter, who feel that Google+ will be favored and displayed in Google's search results. Want to avoid participating in Your World? You'll have to opt out.
This is just beginning, as a marketer my question is how will this affect businesses and their search marketing efforts? More to come.
What are your thoughts? Let's put the privacy issue aside for a moment, is Google making it harder for you to get in front of consumers that are not aware of you?
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Interesting stuff. But I think it will take a (perhaps long) while before people start using it like Google wants it to be used.
It seems to get too complicated. This is like facebook adding a search engine to facebook and expecting to take over Google Search.
In my opinion Google is losing a little bit of it’s “always easy to use” image. Even though that probably won’t hurt Google or its market position, but it won’t help either.
Social media and search will never really integrate I think. These 2 are just too different from eachother. Everything is still centered around operating systems and browsers/apps. Google is trying very hard to get rid of this so that the competition is about functionality rather than about brand. But it’s human nature to identify with a mindset, rather than with functionality. And few people identify with Google on all fronts.
Facebook is the social network brand and Google + is just a copy of facebook. It’s not something different that’s much better. People will only change to another brand when there’s a real benefit to doing so.
Peter, have you used Google Plus, I don’t find it confusing at all – but that may just be because I work in the networks on a daily basis.
When you mention “taking awhile” for people to use it, can you elaborate? Did you know that since Google+ launch in June of 2011 they already have over 65 million users and are adding over 600,000 per day?
Thank you for your input, as always very appreciated!
Here’s my problem with Google+ – I don’t like that Google seems to be forcing us to play the game.
-They boosted Google+ pages in the search results, so that when I search an article, I’ll see my Google+ profile, with a link TO the article, ahead of the results for the actual article. That is definitely NOT an honest representation of what is the more valuable link, it’s a way to push people to visit Google+.
- They’re closing Picnik, a site loved by tons of people. Why? They told us that while they know people love Picnik and rely on it, they can now store their pictures on Google+ and use THOSE editing tools. {Which, by the way, are NOT at all as good.}
If Google+ is a great product, people will move there, just like they moved from MySpace to Facebook. If you have to force them to use your site by playing games like this, then maybe you have a problem, you know?
And while I see some potential for Google+, it’s just not very intuitive, and I don’t really see much that sets it apart as better than Facebook – except for the fact that Google is boosting it’s search results, meaning I have to post content there. It all makes Google feel a little bit shady….
My concern is that this will make small businesses even less likely to rank well in Google searches. Not sure I fully understand how this will work, but it sounds like unless the searcher’s friends have visited or liked my store, I will rank lower in searches than I do now.
So stores that already get a lot of traffic will get more, and smaller businesses who are working hard on keywords and other marketing will rank lower, regardless of how well they are doing those things. This sounds like the start of a downward death spiral for many small businesses.