Google incorporates collaborative filtering-ish features into search options

I’m a big fan of collaborative filtering. Society increasingly seems to have a growing obsession with associative information and the ability to easily access and utilise trends.

I’ve written about collaborative filtering before, and over the last year I have been watching how Google have been slowly incorporating it into their insights for search tools.

Google website trends already displays related websites for a queried URL, and search options now displays related search queries for given phrases and keywords.

Now to some people this may not be a big deal, but I think it is a very valuable tool for us digital marketing folk; the ability to see associative search queries provides valuable insight for all types of planning and marketing.

For example: What other mobile phones are people considering in addition to the G1?

This list of related searches is a real-time indicator of similar products that are actually in demand. You could probably use this data to increase your competitive PPC bidding or inform content for natural search optimisation.

Another new feature in search options is the wonder wheel (stupid name btw). Now I’ve seen people get excited about this, but hold your horses! This was already done years ago by Quintura, which is a “…context-based web search client using data clustering, visualization and context management…”.

Quintura has always been a useful tool for search planning, “wonder wheel” only betters it by providing a cleaner UI. Google’s recent developments clearly demonstrate their proactive approach to rivaling competitors and becoming a one-stop-shop for all kinds of web services, search and social.

Interesting times ahead; love how the game keeps changing!