Serendipity … It’s What’s Missing From Personalized Search Graywolf's SEO Blog

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Serendipity … It’s What’s Missing From Personalized Search Posted: 20 Jan 2011 07:46 AM PST I’ve spoken in the past about my concerns with Google’s personalized search. Last week I came across an article in Mashable that summed up my problem: It’s the lack of serendipity. I understand that Google thinks personalization gives it a business edge but, by not limiting where you get your news and information from, you make yourself better at what you do. I’ve written about how being on the lookout for news stories can give you tips about new niches and make you more profitable or more informed for your clients. It’s this type of serendipity that algorithms can’t duplicate. I was recently reading a story in the New York Times about a debutante who has set up a teen social travel website. She is trying to have a monument built for one of her ancestors James Madison. As an example of serendipity coming full circle, she also happens to be the model for Serena Vanderwudsen from the show Gossip Girl. This was a story chosen to be featured in the New York Times by a human editor, not by an algorithm. This kind of random discovery is what the editors are really good at and where computers fail miserably. What’s interesting to me is that some people on the extreme left or right want to have their news filtered more than it is now. They only read stories that they agree with. Barry wrote about people complaining about Fox News last year. I fear that personalizing SERPs is the first step to creating narrow minded, intolerant, ignorant people, and a small step away from algorithmic censorship. Related posts: Eric Schmidt, The Wall Street Journal and Personalized Search Early Friday morning the Wall Street Journal published an op-ed... How to Turn Off Personalized Search in Google Chrome With the impending arrival of Google OS I’ve been spending... Personalized Search and My Niece My niece who is really a wonderful sweet little girl,... Google is Not My Mother, and Should Kill Personalized Search If Aaron’s correct that they are increasing personalized search and... How TED Helped Me Understand Personalized Search Long time readers here will know that I’m not a... Advertisers: Text Link Ads - New customers can get $100 in free text links. BOTW.org - Get a premier listing in the internet's oldest directory. Ezilon.com Regional Directory - Check to see if your website is listed! Glass Whiteboards - For a professional durable white board with no ghosting, streaking or marker stains, see my Glass Whiteboard Review Need an SEO Audit for your website, look at my SEO Consulting Services Link Building- Backlink Build offers 45 PR5+ Backlinks for $295 KnowEm - Protect your brand, product or company name with a continually growing list of social media sites. Scribe SEO Review find out how to better optimize your wordpress posts. TigerTech - Great Web Hosting service at a great price. This post originally came from Michael Gray who is an SEO Consultant. Be sure not to miss the Thesis Wordpress Theme review. Serendipity … It’s What’s Missing From Personalized Search

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