When Search Gets Personal

Most people have come to expect that search results change from one day to the next.  With millions of web pages being created annually, it is not surprising that search results would vary in this way.  But many people are surprised to learn that search results can differ from person to person also.  If you haven’t been using Google-related services (with a Google account) for some time, you may not be able to witness this yourself, but the effect is documented several places on the Web: Google tailors search results based on the company’s interpretation of your search history.  (Here is a blog with a good explanation of the phenomenon, and another link directly from Google.)

This personalized search capability presents some interesting possibilities, but that doesn’t mean everyone is on-board with the idea of letting Google filter/censor the information it returns.  Take the following example as a positive application of this effect:  when searching for “EPDM”, Google doesn’t show me results about the roofing and plumbing material EPDM, it only shows me results relevant to Enterprise PDM from SolidWorks.  No doubt this is due to the enormous number of times I have searched for PDM-related and PLM-related topics (and rarely searched for plumbing supplies).  I appreciate this filtering because it saves me time and energy (from having to read and then skip over the construction-related results).  No doubt the plumber that feels this effect in the reverse appreciates not having to sift through pages of articles about software to find the best prices on EPDM coatings.

The counterpoint is that something relevant might be missed, and the user would be unaware – all in the name of expedience.  Let’s say your goal is to find novel applications for the medical X-ray equipment that your company makes.  If Google purposefully limits your search results to only include medical applications of X-rays (because you regularly search on medical topics), the search engine would be thwarting you instead of helping.

All of this might be interesting to you, but perhaps a bit academic.  Turning from the potential positives and negatives of search personalization, consider for a moment the relevance to enterprise search.  When working in PLM and searching for a specific part, wouldn’t it be handy if drawings were first in the search results if you were an engineer, but catalogs were first in the list if you were in Marketing or Sales?  As a purchasing agent or supplier, wouldn’t you prefer to see the BOM or parts list near the top of your results rather than the technical requirements documentation?  Perhaps the same negatives exist though.

Regardless of your opinion (for or against), search personalization is important to be aware of.  Who knows what role it will play in business systems of the future; we’re certainly keeping an eye on it.  If you have interesting experiences with search personalization, particularly in a business context, please leave us a comment below.

Tags: Enterprise PDM, EPDM, PDM, PLM, search