I'll start by saying Thank you Google, for the web history and personalized search idea - which is great in theory, but plain sucks in practice! At least for this searcher.
I'm going to stop short of a review and simply complain about an idea that may be wonderful for Google or some imaginary simplistic searcher Google has imagined - but for me it just plain sucks! Oh, did I say that already?
I don't even know where to start on this rant. But PLEASE turn it off! Yes I know that I can turn it off, but I actually want some portions of it without affecting my search results and without it tracking my web travels. I have search history enabled but definitely NOT web history.
And don't get me started on the idea of all this affecting my search results. NO personalization please! I've got a serious aversion to Google providing personalized search results based on my web history. Why? Let me count the reasons - some hypothetical:
- I search from three computers - work, home desktop machine, personal laptop
- I manage Google accounts for clients and log in to review analytics, Adwords, Webmaster Central stats, etc. Did I sign out of client accounts before starting personal searches - or work related searches for other clients?
- Which machine am I using, which account am I using?
- I log into my account on public computers to review gmail, did I log out before leaving? Aarrrgh! I'll never visit that public Kiosk in the Vegas Airport again - can I hire someone to go there to log out of my gmail account for me! Those searches don't belong on my history!
- A friend's son logged in to his Gmail account on my computer and didn't log out - Oh! Look at those searches! Should I tell his parents? Maybe the police?
- My wife uses my computer sometimes and I use hers sometimes - Did I sign out? Did she sign in? Did she sign back out? Have I signed in again?
- What about that Google Desktop Search feature "
- I have multiple Google Accounts - am I using the right account for THIS search?
- I search for dozens of different reasons
- Family & friends "Mike, I know you are a search expert, can you find fill in the blank for me?
- Stuff I needed answers for that I've resolved and don't want to think about any more
- Clients in a dozen different industries for which I have no personal interest in their topic
- Work related searches (as an SEO that means all day long)
- Private and personal searches related to health, finances, hobbies, etc.
- News related searches connected to current events
- One-time use searches on zip codes, phone numbers, names, definitions, directions, etc. that I don't ever want to know about again
- Stuff that mattered to me for five minutes that I no longer remember or care about
- Stuff related to a place I've moved away from and no longer care about
- Vanity searches
- Competitor quotes
- Due diligence for business deals long past lost
- Due diligence on people or businesses I am considering employing
- Clumsy searches using nearly irrelevant hazy search terms
- Dumb searches I have no idea what I was looking for
- You get the idea - this is a serious nightmare of convoluted search results
Yeah I love the convenience and yes I still want to use those features - but OMG don't pollute my search results with this stuff and don't show me a history that actually represents bits and pieces of all my multiple computers, family members, friends, strangers (from public computers I forgot to sign out of), clients and who knows what else into my history.
I suppose I could resolve all of this by simply giving up - or never logging in without penalty of death if I forget to log out. But maybe this could be the one thing that makes me change search engines as
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