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02.23.06
Google
Offers Personalized Results
 By
Joseph Smith
Tired of getting irrelevant search results when you type in a generic term in
the search engine box?
Gone are the days when search engines throw up a couple of million results for
a search string. Google has pioneered the Personalized Search feature which keeps
a record of searches conducted by you and provides you results based on your past
searches. So for example, if you are searching for 'public schools' and have searched
for 'Kansas' before, the first few search results will show you 'Public Schools
in Kansas'. This intelligent search logic helps in reducing the huge number of
search results and is most likely to provide you relevant searches at the shortest
possible time.
The personalized search option has been in beta phase for some time before joining
the ranks of regular features at Google. You can now access it via any of your
Google service accounts (such as Gmail, Adwords or another other service) and
choose the option from the Manage Account page. The personalized feature is currently
available for users of Google.com and thirty nine other Google domains which might
include services or regional domains. Personalization of search will also increase
the number of searches done via Google as users would prefer to cross check results
of searches at Google even if they are using another search engine. This feature
is sure to drive up the search volumes at Google.
The personalized feature has been appreciated by many users and the ease of managing
this service is also one of the reasons why users are opting for it readily. You
can deactivate this feature at any time by either putting it on hold or by deleting
the personalization option. Google removes your entire bookmark list if you decide
to opt out of this service. A higher level of security for access to personalization
feature is another enhancement at Google.
The personalization service however, does have a few issues which might result
in incorrect results or might result in not being able to find the bookmarked
link. One of the main issues comes up when you want to refer to a news item from
Google news and save it as a bookmark. Since news articles at Google are not maintained
beyond 30 days, the link is not going to be available for your viewing after the
period lapses. However, you can be rest assured that someone somewhere in Google
Labs is working frantically to sort this issue at the earliest!
The book marking feature of Google Personalized feature has been compared with
Yahoo's MyWeb feature and the response has been in Yahoo's favour. Yahoo MyWeb
allows you to save complete text information on a site whereas Google allows you
to save the title, URL and notes only. This reduces the available content which
a search engine can search through thus weakening the power of the search which
may not show all relevant searches. Improvement on this feature is likely to have
a direct impact on the number of users who sign up for this service.
If you are an avid Google user and swear by the results thrown up by the search
engine, the personalization service is something you must try out. Not only does
it promise to save time by reviewing irrelevant results, it also helps you get
an edge over your peers in being better read and well informed.
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