Surviving Personalization with Bing & Google

SMX Advanced 2012

@Rhea | @OutspokenMedia

If you leave with one takeaway it should be…

The future of search is personalization.

THE BUSINESS CASE

Everyone’s results are already personalized.

Google Personalization Methods October 2006http://www.seobythesea.com/2006/10/google-personalization-methods/

Google Now Personalizes Everyone’s Search Results December 4, 2009http://searchengineland.com/google-now-personalizes-everyones-search-results-31195

Personalized Search Factors

Location Search history

Social search

How can Google see search history?

1. Browser2. Toolbar3. Google web searches

Reference:http://support.google.com/websearch/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=9016

Check Your History

Curious? Check your search history:

https://www.google.com/history

How does Google see your network?

Reference:https://profiles.google.com/u/0/connectedaccounts

How does Google track your friends?

• Your mutual connections with people on Google products such as Gmail.

• Interaction you’ve had with others on Google products.

• The links you've added to your profile.

• The connected accounts you've linked on your Google Account.

• The people who are in your extended circles.

• Friends on external sites, when those friends have connected their accounts on their Google+ profiles.

How does Google identify your accts?

Two primary signals that make an educated guess:

1. Similarities between your Google Account name and usernames, and other account names and profile names.

2. Similarities between your connections.

Reference:http://support.google.com/websearch/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1142745

Google tracks what you +1

Remember to +1

Outspoken Media!

How does Google track your content?

Reference:https://plus.google.com/authorship

How does Google track social activity?

Formerly through PostRank, now social reporting:• conversions• sources• sharing

Reference: http://www.google.com/analytics/features/social.html

Measure Personalization Extent in GA

(not provided) Twitter

Facebook

StumbleUponGoogle+

% signed into Gmail % networked w/social

Personalized Search is the SE Arms Race

At SMX London 2012, Amit Singhal stated that secure search was the key to personalized results.

Google doesn't want to take over Facebook, they want to enhance search with the social graph.

Reference:http://searchengineland.com/google-growing-your-social-network-quantity-vs-quality-109210

Why did Google create (not provided)?

Keyword reports are obsolete when search results are personalized.

And, if we could see which keywords were driving personalized search rankings, it would be much easier to game.

Bing has stated that:

“…social (who are your friends and what are their interests), personal long term (who

are you as a user), short term personalization (what are you trying to do

now), location, and privacy, transparency and control.“

Reference:http://blog.search-mojo.com/2012/02/28/live-from-smx-west-how-google-bing-personalize-with-search-history-geography/

Bing rank =

authority +

quality of keyword match +

personal preference +

social preference

Personalized search increases CTR

At SMX London 2012 Amit Singhal shared that Google is seeing increased click through

rates from personalized search results.

What’s in it for Bing?

Bing has a competitive advantage tapping data from Twitter and Facebook and

dominance of real-time search.

PERSONALIZED SEARCH

TACTICS

LOCATION SEARCH

Write Geo-Targeted Content

Use Schema.org Markup Language

Offline Networking to Build Relationships

Get Zagat and Other Ratings

Make Your Site Mobile-Friendly

Targeting for multiple languages:

Reference:http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=182192

Local Search

Ask the experts in tomorrow’s local panel!

SEARCH HISTORY

Brand Your: Name, Products, Company

Write Great, Relevant Content

Coordinate SEO with PR & Social

SEO

PR

Set up a Wikipedia Page

Submit data through Freebase

Setup Authorship

Brand thought leaders

Publish Content Often

Create Community Acct Logins

Use Gmail for login

Use events to drive queries

SOCIAL SEARCH

Create and post to Google+ page

Setup Google+ Direct Connect

Increase your Google+ followers

Use LinkedIn to Identify Your Network

Giveaways, contests, sweepstakes, etc.

Use Facebook login for comments

Create long & short-term content

Engage community

NOW, GO DO IT!!!!

Thank you.

t: @Rheae: rhea@outspokenmedia.com

Get all of the SMX coverage:http://outspokenmedia.com/blog/