Google’s common sense
Today, I was searching for “Cancun vacation homes” on Google, but then switched my search to just “vacation homes“. What was very interesting is that although my second search excluded the word “Cancun”, the Sponsored Links on the right still showed Cancun-related vacation homes, as though the search terms persisted to my next search.
I sometimes loath how Google makes it difficult for entrepreneurs. If you have an idea for Internet technology, Google has either launched something similar or has it planned. But, how can you blame a company that uses common sense in a lot of what they do? Maybe it is because they have enough capital to hire enough resources to think of all these things, or it is simply because they hire smart people. Most of what they do, however, seems obvious. I admit that something does seem obvious after you see it, but there are things I would do in my products if I only had the time and resources — not necessarily the PhD’s.
For example, if you perform the second search I mentioned above in a different browser, you’ll notice a completely separate set of Sponsored Links. Why wouldn’t Google use IP address, which is cross-browser, to build the same context as you would searching in the same browser? You can argue that IP addresses may be cross-computer, and therefore searches may not have the same meaning to a husband and a wife and their children, let’s say. However, if someone’s searching for “Cancun vacation homes” on one computer, isn’t there enough to assume that another computer behind the IP address, albiet another computer, is searching for something similar when they search “vacation homes”? What if the IP address was shared? Well, it’s only a matter of time and resources for Google to utilize cookies and individuals logging into their Google accounts to decipher how many computers are behind a specific IP address. If there was 20 people behind an IP address, like at a startup, wouldn’t there be some relevance between certain types of searches made by all its employees?
Anyway, I’m rambling. But there are so many ways to improve things with common sense, and in Google’s case, with mounds of data. You can’t fight Google’s ability to create great, common-sense products, like the Google Maps My Location (GPS without GPS). (By the way, Cyril at Navizon already had launched this offering months ago, and this is an example of Google’s ability to make a young startup with grand ideas irrelevant.)
At two of my startups, Vidshadow and ThirdPop, we know what is obvious, what is needed in the market, what will crush the competition. But it’s all about time and resources (money). Wouldn’t it be nice to have Google’s bank roll.
