Toolbars and Data Mining

[doppelganger]

I just recently had an interesting meeting with Hitwise, and it got me thinking about what Alexa is doing, and what it might mean in the future for companies like Google and Yahoo!

Hitwise basically gets all their data from ISPs and other partners. They can provide detailed site analytics and insights into user behavior.

But ANY company that installs toolbars on users browsers can get the same information. Alexa is doing it right now. You can go to the Alexa site and see some general information. They also have some type of a paid service that will give you a little more detail. It's not as detailed as Hitwise, but it could be if they decided to offer it.

My question is... How long will it be until Google or Yahoo! offer this type of information to marketers? We know they are using it for their own internal purposes.

[Mikkel deMib Svendsen]

It's been a question for many years :)

I think what will come depends very much on where we are talking about. What you will see in the US is most likely not the same as you'll get in Germany with their stict laws on personal information.

Having said that I do think we will see more of it. The problem with much of the data floating around search engines has been that there simply wasen't enough customers ready to pay for the development of the programs. I think that will change as more companies become aware of the values such data can provide. If the costomers is there search engines and tool bar owners will sell it just like any other business will try to exploit values in the company. They should. As long as they understand the limits - globally and locally, ethically and legally.

[Rob]

It makes sense to me that SE's have to get into this. When the majority of users refine 3 or 4 times before they find what they want it makes sense.

Think of the resources a search engine could save if, after analyzing a person's search habits, it could offer more relevant results on the first query? Kinda like the beta of Google personalized search does now, but you don't have to set up your preferences in the beginning.