DuckDuckGo, a Google competitor, came out with a study that claimed Google's search results create what is known as a "filter bubble," this influencing what you click on and see. Google came to Twitter and defended themselves saying their personalization does not do that.
In the past year, Google has downplayed their personalization, calling it very light at best. But this DuckDuckGo backed study with a whopping "87 complete result sets - 76 on desktop and 11 on mobile," claimed otherwise. Go read the study and then read Google's defense.
(1) Google calls this a myth:
Over the years, a myth has developed that Google Search personalizes so much that for the same query, different people might get significantly different results from each other. This isn’t the case. Results can differ, but usually for non-personalized reasons. Let’s explore…
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) December 4, 2018
(2) Demographic data is not used in search:
The assumption is that results have been customized in some way based on information unique to an individual, such as search history. FYI: we do not personalize search results based on demographic profiles nor create such profiles for use in Google Search...
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) December 4, 2018
(3) Any personalization is not dramatic and mostly not there says Google:
Personalization doesn’t happen often & generally doesn’t dramatically change search results from one person to another. It is usually so lightly applied that the results are very similar to what someone would see without personalization…
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) December 4, 2018
(4) You can test it yourself, here is how:
Anyone who wants to test how lightly personalization is applied can easily check this themselves. Do a search in a fresh “Incognito” or similar private browsing window & you’ll have no account-based activity that is used. You can compare to a regular search…
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) December 4, 2018
(5) Go ahead and disable it yourself also:
Anyone who doesn’t want personalization using account-based activity can disable it using the Web & App Activity setting. You can also choose to keep your search history stored but exclude Chrome and app activity…https://t.co/AGtS7ML7rx pic.twitter.com/ncILR2K2NV
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) December 4, 2018
(6) Why would someone see different results than someone else? Location, languages, device and more:
As said, personalization doesn’t dramatically change results. So why might two different people searching for the same thing see results that are different? That’s often due to non-personalized reasons: location, language settings, platform & the dynamic nature of search…
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) December 4, 2018
(7) Location:
Localization is extremely useful in making results more relevant. For example, people in the US searching for “football” do not generally want UK football results, and vice versa. People searching for “zoos” in one area often want locally-relevant listings… pic.twitter.com/imxxT9WZJG
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) December 4, 2018
(8) Language:
As with localization, language customization helps make results more relevant. Someone who searches in French generally wants information written in French. Similarly, those searching in English generally want information written in English…. pic.twitter.com/lpxF5PFQfY
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) December 4, 2018
(9) Data centers:
While we make changes as simultaneous as possible, some new or changed pages might not appear in all data centers immediately, or our latest ranking improvements may not have fully rolled out. These factors, not personalization, can create slight or brief differences in results…
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) December 4, 2018
(10) Time:
Time is also a factor. Those who search a few hours or even minutes apart may see variations as new & updated material is added to our search engine. In particular, our “Top stories” section, which is never personalized, can change significantly in a short period of time...
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) December 4, 2018
(11) Device:
Results may also differ slightly because of platform. On mobile, we prefer fast-loading, mobile-friendly pages, if content on those is as good or better than desktop versions. If you’re using Android or iOS, we may list apps that are appropriate for the respective devices.
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) December 4, 2018
More from Danny Sullivan who posted these under the Google SearchLiaison account:
It's not that dramatic. If you did a series of searches in a short period, we *might* better understand you mean the animal rather than the car. But it wouldn't be then forever and always we think you only care about the animal.
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) December 4, 2018
"We do not personalize search results based on demographic profiles nor create such profiles for use in Google Search" is that statement. To be absolutely clear, ad personalization is not part of Google Search. We do not use that.
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) December 5, 2018
Go back 7 years or so and see how Matt Cutts addressed these allegations from DuckDuckGo in 2011.
Forum discussion at Twitter.
