Many people don’t really know what a search engine is, but they use one every day, often multiple times a day. Google, Yahoo, and Bing are the most popular search engines in the U.S., but Google has the edge, by far. Over 67% of us choose Google and most of us don’t even think about why we do. The “why” however, are what Google focuses on. They know if they deliver the results we are looking for 99% of the time, there is no way we’ll try Yahoo or Bing. But why has Google become the go-to search engine while the others remain with such small user shares? Google has invested heavily in the science behind behind delivering to you fast and relevant results.
Here are 3 ways that that Google keeps you using Google:
- Geographic Search: This is not something new and we have all gotten used to it, but it truly makes life easier. For example, if you live in Akron, Ohio and are craving lasagna, you may perform a search for “Italian restaurants” on Google. Your Google results will be mostly restaurants in the Akron area. You call the restaurant, make a reservation and that’s that. Fast, easy, relevant. If you had instead received Italian restaurants in Detroit, you’d be pretty frustrated, right? Google makes sure that doesn’t happen.
- Personalized Search: Every time you perform a search on Google, what you searched for, what you clicked on, and more details about your behavior are added to your Google Search History. Yes, it seems like a breach of privacy (and there are ways to get around it) but in Google’s words “…personalized search helps us deliver you the most useful, relevant content for your search.” Personalized search is one of the reasons why two people in the same geographic area (or even in the same room) will see different results for the same search, and why each of them will usually be pretty happy with what they get.
- Semantic Search: Google’s research into understanding the meanings of and relationships among things (as opposed to simply “matching keywords”) is the basis for semantic search. Google has invested heavily in learning to interpret how the words you use in a search work together in defining what you are truly looking for. Semantic search is in use right now on Google, although you probably don’t realize it.
Geographic, personalized, and semantic search are just three of the reasons Google keeps us using Google. And yes, 99% of the time I get the results I am looking for on the first try, and so do most people. It’s really pretty amazing. So, until someone comes along and builds a better mousetrap, Google will remain the default search engine for most of us.
- Betsy
Some information for this article was found here:
https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/54041?hl=en (must be signed in to Google)
http://searchengineland.com/5-ways-to-unlock-the-benefits-of-semantic-search-hummingbird-175634 http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/26/google-changes-search-to-handle-more-complex-queries/?_r=0
