2. Jellyfish POV
Google+: Search, plus Your World, January 2012
Introduction
During the second week of January Google officially launched
Search, plus Your World (SPYW), an update to search that heralds
an epic and arguably seismic change for the digerati, brands and
consumers. Cripes, why all the fuss?
Background
Personalised search in Google is nothing new (default even when
signed out from 2009 onwards). Incorporating social results (and
by implication using social signals to influence rankings) is also
nothing new; Twitter results still feature in Google’s index, and
Google have admitted publicly that good social = good rankings:
Danny Sullivan: ‘If an article is retweeted or referenced much in
Twitter, do you count that as a signal outside of finding any non-no
followed links that may naturally result from it?’
Google: ‘Yes, we do use it as a signal. It is used as a signal in our
organic and news rankings. We also use it to enhance our news
universal by marking how many people shared an article’.
What is new is the aggressive manner in which SPYW ‘pushes’ the
perceived relevance and visibility of Google+ content INTO YOUR
FACE, where the personalised search results are strongly influenced
by users’ immediate spheres of influence, including the people and
materials they interact with in Google+. (NB – SPYW is only live on
google.com at the moment).
PAGE 2
3. Jellyfish POV
Google+: Search, plus Your World, January 2012
Examples – Search for a person
I follow Matt Cutts on Google+, he is in one of my circles, and (quite
reasonably) his Google+ page is one of the results pages. Note his
image is presented in the search preview pane.
PAGE 3
4. Jellyfish POV
Google+: Search, plus Your World, January 2012
Is this a good / better search result? Yes: There may only be one
Lady Gaga, but there are hundreds of people who share the name
Michael Jackson. In any international or even country-specific
search, one particular Michael Jackson and interest in his work risks
drowning out the others. So, a name result which delivers
information more closely related to my social relationships (read
circles in Google+ land) seems sensible.
Now, search for a brand
PAGE 4
5. Jellyfish POV
Google+: Search, plus Your World, January 2012
Even though Macy’s is not a part of my social circles, their
Google+ pages(s) are the #2 and #3 result, outranking their
Wikipedia entry and (no surprise!) their Facebook page. Now that’s
just not cricket.
So personalised search that relies heavily on analysis of social
activity in Google+ raises the worrying spectre of a Google+ pages
from (or even about…….) your company rating highly for searches
for your brand name, or potentially even higher than any given main
site for a brand that is rarely updated and experiences little-to-no
social engagement.
Personalised search also makes it far more difficult to measure and
improve what appears in any given search for your brand name; the
results of most personalised searches will be invisible to you, and
'chat' within the relevant circles will be largely beyond your direct
control; you would need to influence the opinion-formers/leaders
those in any given circle in order to influence the wider circle(s).
Finally, try a generic search
This one is harder to predict, though potentially if I search for city
PAGE 5
6. Jellyfish POV
Google+: Search, plus Your World, January 2012
break Italy, I am just as likely to be served a mate’s Google+ page
with holiday snaps as I am a travel website.
Practically, you’ll note the people and pages on Google+ side
bar…hard to miss, right? Well, that can only be a blatant land grab
by Google to drive users / brands on to Google in a way that is
raising eyebrows and more across the marketing and legislative
community (see later in this document).
Returning to the issue of search quality, I’d argue that this level of
personalisation at a generic search level is counter-productive in
many circumstances. The fact that my mum might have bought a
Nikon D3 does not make her an expert on DSLRs. When I search for
digital cameras, the result I want in that scenario is a site where
authority has been gauged over time based on a broad range of
metrics…..please. On a positive note, SPYW is likely to be a better
user experience for micro personalised searches. For example,
when looking for best Thai food in Clapham, a search result driven
by my friends’ experiences would be highly relevant to my
information needs.
Don’t forget mobile
Desktop computers are often shared, personal devices less so. As
rollout progresses, personalised search is going to dominate the
mobile market before it dominates the desktop market, simply
because a much higher percentage of users – especially Android
users - will be signed in, and will stay signed in. And don’t forget that
with all those rich snippets (images, video thumbnails etc.) SPYW
also eats up more screen real estate. On a small screen.
So what?
Is this good for users or Google? It depends on the nature of your
search – see examples above. But it’s definitely good for Google, as
SPYW necessitates focus by anyone who needs SERPs visibility
(people or brands) to kick start or accelerate their Google+
strategy. This prerogative will in turn drive user numbers, increase
the breadth and depth of content delivered via Google+, and thus
PAGE 6
7. Jellyfish POV
Google+: Search, plus Your World, January 2012
Google+ visibility in SERPs to a broader and broader range of search
results. It will also enhance Google’s ability to deliver ads based on
precise user preferences (which is surely on the roadmap).
How persistent will SPYW be?
Make no mistake; SPYW is part of a grand plan by Google to grab not
just user numbers (where it has an advantage over Facebook) but
also user attention (where it currently falls way behind FB). And,
tight integration with +1, selling benefits of social extensions to
AdWords, it’s a plan all right.
But any plan can be thwarted or foiled, and this is most likely to
emanate from legislative pressures; here’s the letter sent by the
Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) asking the FTC to
investigate Google over the changes Google made as a result of
Search plus Your World. "EPIC cited Google's decision to include
personal data, such as photos, posts, and contact details, gathered
from Google+ in Google Search results."
Twitter have voiced similar concerns and Facebook are likely to
follow suit. So it seems probable that Google will make hay while
the sun shines, promote Google+ while it can, use the right hand
side bar for a few months, then step back and wait while the digital
dust settles.
What’s a brand to do?
• Set up on Google+
PAGE 7
8. Jellyfish POV
Google+: Search, plus Your World, January 2012
• Link your Google+ page to your domain using Google direct
connect (this will feed aggregated data on all your +1
interactions from ads, +1s from your website, +1s from Google+,
into a single ‘pot’)
• Enable social extensions in AdWords (shows social interactions
on your PPC ads and improves CTR)
• And most importantly, think about content strategies that can
work alongside existing processes to encourage engagement via
Google+
We’re already advising clients on the details of Google+ set up,
AdWords integration and content development based on brand
and user data insight; do let us know if you need further
information.
PAGE 8
