The Demographics of Web Search

adaviel sends a link to work out of Yahoo Research indicating that demographics can help Web searches; e.g. a women searching for "wagner" probably wants the 18th-century German composer, while for men in the US "wagner" is a paint sprayer. The Yahoo researchers claim that by taking user demographics into account, "they managed to get the chosen link to appear as the top-ranked result 7 per cent more often than in the standard Yahoo search." New Scientist mentions this research and two other innovative adjuncts to current search practice: following the mouse cursor as a proxy for eye tracking, and taking back bearings on online criminals by studying the searches they make. (The latter raises disburbing privacy questions: would you want Google trolling through your search data? How about governments?)

ROI at 7 Percent

[Sully2161]

I don't disagree with the general principle, but I have to wonder if 7 percent is worth the time, effort, and privacy issues involved. Also, note that the 7% is of a specific 30% subset; the actual value for all queries is 1.5%. I then have to ask how many of those 'upgraded' top-ranked results were already near the top (i.e. in the top 10/first page of results). I feel that the whole idea is getting less fruitful by the second... - S

Great button but shouldn't always work that way

[Anonymous Coward]

If you're searching for something where this would help - like home depot products and you fit the demographic you are in then great - add a button that keeps you in your area and helps you avoid german composers.

To me though, this would be very restricting if I'm truly trying to look up something I (and therefore maybe my demographic) knows just a little about. Steering me back to results that I already know about would get to be very annoying when what I am looking for isn't usually searched by my demographic.

I don't want my search history examined.

[Anonymous Coward]

Search history presents a great potential for loss of IP. I do technology development in an area of considerable interest/value. From looking at my search entries, it would be pretty easy to determine the directions of my development work and anticipate it. It's clear that search history mining is gonna happen. I'm interested in anonymizing my search activities as a result.

Re:Sexist search engines

[Krahar]

We already don't know how Google works. If you want to tell someone about something, you can give them a link, or you can log out of your Google account if you are doing this on Google and this comes in the way. This technique allows to give people the link they are looking for more often than if it isn't in use, and that's exactly what a search engine is about. I'm sure you can opt out and most people using search engines aren't as knowledgeable about what they are doing as you might be.

Wanger *was* an 18th-century composer

[geckoFeet]

That would probably be Georg Gottfried Wagner (1698-1756), who also played violin for Bach (1685-1750), another 18th-century composer, and not to be confused with Leonhard Emil Bach (1849-1902), a 19th-century composer.

Either that or KDawson thinks that "18 century" means "1800s."

(I am a musicologist, but I am not your musicologist, and this post is not intended as musicological advice).