View Full Version : Google organics become more like AdWords
abbottsys
09-20-2007, 11:24 PM
I googled my primary keyword and I was on the first page in the organics. A friend, who used a different browser, did not get me on the first page. I continued to google the same keyword, taking care not to click on anything, and soon I dropped off the first page in the organics and was replaced by some other organic listing. I went home and used my home machine, and I was back on the first page.
I think you get the idea. Google now seems to be using "adaptive ranking" algos for the organics, making the organic market a bit more like AdWords!
I wonder if the SEO folks are prepared for this new world.
Good catch abbottsys, interesting find! Were you logged into Google (AdWords, AdSense, Gmail, other)? Did you add &pws=0 to the URLs?
NewKidOnTheBlock
09-21-2007, 04:34 AM
I think most good SEOs should know about this. The main changes that are likely to happen to G's algorithm in the future are universal search and personalization.
Im not sure if personalization already exists and if so to what extent, but it's existed for a while already in the form of local results. I'm in Germany for example and if I use google.de or google set to the German language I get to see different results, not just German results appear higher in the list, but als results from the UK (maybe because they're more likely to get linked to from UK sites or maybe b/c if I was gonna buy and have something shipped the costs from the UK would be cheaper :-)).
I think personalization has been a topic for a long time already and most SEOs should be prepared for it.
But I find it interesting what you said about trying to show it to a friend who couldn't see the same result. That's what I've been thinking of as the main problem of personalization (whether it's in the SERPs or on a website)..you want to show something to a friend (send the link through IM or while you're over at their house) and you can't get it to work...that will suck!:( but then again if the search experience becomes a lot better b/c of it that would probably outweigh such problems.
(for example one of the favorite vacation destinatons for Germans is a Spanish island called Majorca. People < 25 usually go there exclusively to get hammered (think Cancun), whereas it's also an extremely popular destination for people > 25 who usually want to relax there and spend a normal vacation..in such cases I think personalization can be a wonderful thing)
abbottsys
09-21-2007, 11:47 AM
Good catch abbottsys, interesting find! Were you logged into Google (AdWords, AdSense, Gmail, other)? Did you add &pws=0 to the URLs?
Nope, I was not logged into any of my google accounts, and I used no special search parameters (although I know quite a few!) But, I've not heard of the pws parameter, what is it?
Ryan L
09-21-2007, 05:58 PM
Isn't it more likely that his search was merely run through a different data center?
Ryan L
09-21-2007, 06:00 PM
I googled my primary keyword and I was on the first page in the organics. A friend, who used a different browser, did not get me on the first page. I continued to google the same keyword, taking care not to click on anything, and soon I dropped off the first page in the organics and was replaced by some other organic listing. I went home and used my home machine, and I was back on the first page.
I think you get the idea. Google now seems to be using "adaptive ranking" algos for the organics, making the organic market a bit more like AdWords!
I wonder if the SEO folks are prepared for this new world.
Do you think that they are adjusting the organic results on the fly based on CTR? If so; wow! thats a lot of computations that have to be made at any given time.
Nope, I was not logged into any of my google accounts, and I used no special search parameters (although I know quite a few!) But, I've not heard of the pws parameter, what is it?
Interesting stuff, oh and adding &pws=0 to Google's URL turns of personalized search results.
abbottsys
09-22-2007, 10:33 AM
Interesting stuff, oh and adding &pws=0 to Google's URL turns of personalized search results.
Good to know. I'm at the same organic rank with or without this parameter. (At least on my current machine with my current browser!!)
Speaking of search parameters, the &start=0 parameter is easy (sets rank of first displayed organic on the SRP), but any idea what the &sa=N parameter does?
Good to know. I'm at the same organic rank with or without this parameter. (At least on my current machine with my current browser!!)
Speaking of search parameters, the &start=0 parameter is easy (sets rank of first displayed organic on the SRP), but any idea what the &sa=N parameter does?
&sa=N... hmm not sure about that one! AdWords related I guess?