Google Co-op as a search humanization program
The Google Custom Search Engine personal search introduced last week is a logical development of the Co-op program, in which Google tries to bring the search results as close as possible to the user's expectations. One of the developers, Shashi Seth, told about the program, its goals and the first results of the work in an interview with StoneTemple Consulting.
The main problems in the search, he believes, are two:
- the user cannot clearly express the context (for example, what the search results will be used for);
- even if he can do this, most of the links in the search results are clearly not the ones he needs.
As an example, this situation is cited: the parents of a diabetic child search the Internet for information about the symptoms of the disease. In this case, the search engine will be unclear who is sitting in front of the monitor, and as a result, the child's mother can get links to the chemical formulas of certain drugs or advertising drugs. Another example is the “BMW X5” query: what do you need to know specifically? The user wants to buy a car, he needs feedback from the owners of this vehicle, or has he already bought and is looking for a service center? Even if he asks for “BMW X5 reviews”, the results will be filled with sponsored links or search spam.
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In May 2006, Topics and Subscribed Links were presented to Co-op users. With their help, Google tried to “figure out” the most relevant sites and pages. Users participating in the Topics program, in the search results for a particular topic, could mark the page they liked with a “marker”, thereby denoting that it was on it that everyone else could find the necessary information. Thanks to Topics on Google’s search pages, for example, on the subject of diabetes (diabetes), at the top of the page there were links to topics “Symptoms”, “For patients”, “For doctors”, etc., there were links inside intended for a clearly defined context.
The program was recognized as not very successful: there was nothing to motivate users, and a few participants could not finally present a result close to the ideal of relevance.
Google Custom Search Engine (CSE) was a logical continuation of Topics (although this program is still available). The main difference from the “predecessor” here is that the creator of a personal search engine can earn on the results of its use with Adsense . True, it is still unclear how many cents (or dollars) from the clique he will receive, but the very principle of motivation is already an undoubted achievement. It is also important that Google competitors are not ready to pay for the use of “their search engine” (for example, Microsoft Search Macros, which we wrote about earlier ).
Thanks to CSE, "the problem of diabetes," they rely on Google, will be solved much faster. Any user (or even a community of users, because you can invite anyone to create your search engine) will be able to set up a mechanism to search for information only on certain sites or pages. For example, in the case of the BMW X5 - a search engine is created that takes into account only auto-shops or forums of motorists; in the case of diseases, only websites with helpful tips and prescriptions from doctors.
In the course of its work, Google continues to rely on user support. For example, we have already noted such a flaw as the lack of a directory of personal search engines, the creation of which, by the way, Microsoft took care of immediately. However, the “community of guglomans” also helps in this case: the Custom Search Guide has already been created - a directory in which anyone can offer to add “their own vision of search results”. There is no doubt that such directories will continue to be created.
The main problems in the search, he believes, are two:
- the user cannot clearly express the context (for example, what the search results will be used for);
- even if he can do this, most of the links in the search results are clearly not the ones he needs.
As an example, this situation is cited: the parents of a diabetic child search the Internet for information about the symptoms of the disease. In this case, the search engine will be unclear who is sitting in front of the monitor, and as a result, the child's mother can get links to the chemical formulas of certain drugs or advertising drugs. Another example is the “BMW X5” query: what do you need to know specifically? The user wants to buy a car, he needs feedback from the owners of this vehicle, or has he already bought and is looking for a service center? Even if he asks for “BMW X5 reviews”, the results will be filled with sponsored links or search spam.
')
In May 2006, Topics and Subscribed Links were presented to Co-op users. With their help, Google tried to “figure out” the most relevant sites and pages. Users participating in the Topics program, in the search results for a particular topic, could mark the page they liked with a “marker”, thereby denoting that it was on it that everyone else could find the necessary information. Thanks to Topics on Google’s search pages, for example, on the subject of diabetes (diabetes), at the top of the page there were links to topics “Symptoms”, “For patients”, “For doctors”, etc., there were links inside intended for a clearly defined context.
The program was recognized as not very successful: there was nothing to motivate users, and a few participants could not finally present a result close to the ideal of relevance.
Google Custom Search Engine (CSE) was a logical continuation of Topics (although this program is still available). The main difference from the “predecessor” here is that the creator of a personal search engine can earn on the results of its use with Adsense . True, it is still unclear how many cents (or dollars) from the clique he will receive, but the very principle of motivation is already an undoubted achievement. It is also important that Google competitors are not ready to pay for the use of “their search engine” (for example, Microsoft Search Macros, which we wrote about earlier ).
Thanks to CSE, "the problem of diabetes," they rely on Google, will be solved much faster. Any user (or even a community of users, because you can invite anyone to create your search engine) will be able to set up a mechanism to search for information only on certain sites or pages. For example, in the case of the BMW X5 - a search engine is created that takes into account only auto-shops or forums of motorists; in the case of diseases, only websites with helpful tips and prescriptions from doctors.
In the course of its work, Google continues to rely on user support. For example, we have already noted such a flaw as the lack of a directory of personal search engines, the creation of which, by the way, Microsoft took care of immediately. However, the “community of guglomans” also helps in this case: the Custom Search Guide has already been created - a directory in which anyone can offer to add “their own vision of search results”. There is no doubt that such directories will continue to be created.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/4637/
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