Previous Query Refinement vs. Search Pollutants

This morning I saw a Danny Sullivan post from SMX Sydney after interviewed Google's VP of Search Products, Marissa Mayer during the SMX keynote. Sullivan emphasized the importance of Mayer's announcement that "Previous Query Refinement" is coming to web search - after that product had been tested in a limited way on Adwords ads only.

But then today Mediapost also wrote about search privacy concerns voiced by the Center for Digital Democracy in a complaint filed with the FTC back in November of 2006, brought to a head when public comment to FTC's proposed "voluntary guidelines" drew objections by all major players in "behavioral marketing" ad networks . According to MediaPost, Google's comments to the FTC, said:

"We are currently experimenting in our Search service with providing ads based on both the current query and the immediately previous search," Google wrote. "For example, a user who types 'Italy vacation' into the Google search box might see ads about Tuscany or affordable flights to Rome. If the user were to subsequently search for 'weather,' we might assume that there is a link between 'Italy vacation' and 'weather' and deliver ads regarding local weather conditions in Italy."

So while the two issues (web search and Adwords that appear beside those search results) would not BOTH be affected by the FTC "guidelines" it could mean that we would see better search results and worse ads if those "guidelines" are in any way enforced by the FTC against ads, but not natural algorithmic search results.

What an odd position to be in for a privacy advocate like me. While the search results are bound to be better when previous queries are factored into the algorithm, the ads may be off-limits to the same refinement. Hmmm.

A very funny kink in this story from MediaPost is the quote:

Google rival Microsoft, on the other hand, said it supports the FTC's goals and that the proposed guidelines should be extended "to include the full array of online advertising activities."

Umm, yea - poor search results, no worthwhile algorithm from the last place search company MSN Live - who would never use their latest $6 Billion acquisition, aQuantive, to serve behavioral advertising to anyone - right? aQuantive execs had to be moaning in pain when they saw their new parent making such statements.

It's bound to be an interesting decision with lawsuits flying in both directions from privacy advocates on one side and ad networks on the other after those "voluntary guidelines" from the FTC are finally handed down.

I really do believe the search results using "Previous Query Refinement" would be better in most cases, for most people. I'll probably like those results sometimes and hate them others. I'll love them when I search for "Restaurant, New York City" and then "Italian food, Theater District" but I'll absolutely hate those results when I'm researching "accounting software" client keywords and decide to switch to my "plastic surgeon" client keywords or a search for a local auto parts store right after doing a medical search query.

Do those of us who search constantly get different types of cookies served for "Previous Query Refinement" searches than say my wife who searches for things only after asking me a tough trivia question or home repair question and I say, "Why don't you Google it?" She does two searches a day at most and I do 50 to 100 daily. Will I need to disable cookies? Sign out of my Google personalized search? How will "Previous Query Refinement" distinguish between those of us who want Unpolluted search results and those who need a helping hand with "Query Refinement?"

Budweiser Super Bowl Ads Dominate Game Day

The Super Bowl commercials that always stick in people's minds each year are inevitably the Budweiser ads. Last year's "Rock, Paper, Scissors contest for the last bottle of Bud at a party was the big winner in mind-share. This year Anheuser Busch will dominate again with seven spots during the Patriots, Giants contest. Here are a group of ads that have been leaked to the web ahead of Sunday's game (some are just teasers giving you the first few seconds of the ad):

Here is one about cave men, which have become wildly popular in the past couple of years between Fedex, Geico Insurance and now Budweiser, I've now had my fill of hairy guys with big foreheads:

This one is titled "X-Ray Vision" but that's about all you'll see in this short teaser:

Now we have a fire-breathing date, because, well, Budweiser is everything you want in a beer, including the ability to breathe fire:

Now we have a friendship budding between a Dalmation and the last lonely Clydesdale, who didn't get chosen for the team:

And finally, here's Carlos Mencia teaching immigrants how to pick up "American Chicks" in a bar with unlikely pick-up lines:

But that's not all Bud has up their sleeve. They will make you work for it, but if you really MUST see another Budweiser ad, they will give you a code to "unlock" a secret ad, viewable on their web site after the game if you vote each ad up or down on your cell phone during the game after "registering" to do so! Wow, that's serious brand engagement. Here's and Advertising Age Video Link where you can get more details before the game on this odd Budweiser "Secret Ad" effort from their own video "3 Minute Ad Age".