Web analytics, web metrics, and how to use them to track and improve conversions

Sometimes an idea that sounds good and reads well, when put into action, translates into something else and has an unintended effect.  I've been thinking a lot, lately, about Google's mission statement to, more or less, make all the world's information be searchable, and decided it's not as good an idea as it sounds.

I don't fault Google for wanting to create a company based on making everything searchable (by everyone) but I question weather we can live with the reality of it.  Sometimes, what we wish for, when we get it, is not what we wanted, after all.

In Wake-up Google, the World Thinks You’re Big Brother!, Andy Beal picks up on a public perception about Google - it's not my imagination, it's fact .... a lot of people are worried about what happens when all your data becomes searchable and it's clearly not private:

"...People are starting to get a little freaked out by Google’s pervasiveness and are really starting to get concerned about what it knows. Google needs to fight the perception that it is becoming “big brother”, not the reality, before the perception becomes the reality.

Google needs to take a dramatic step in allaying our fears that it’s taking our data and using it for evil. It needs to move quickly, otherwise it won’t be able to reverse the tide. Google’s gotten very far, simply by exploiting its great reputation, that reputation is now at risk, and it needs to realize that it is fast becoming arrogant in its belief that it can do whatever it wants."

I can foresee a time where Google will fall, not because it was successful in it's goals... it's because they're too successful - too full of themselves - too willing to believe that just because you can link up the whole world...go ahead and do it.

It' scary...2 years of my search history and WEB History, for example.... they did not ask me before putting that together...did they?  Nope, they didn't.  The just did it.   At what point does getting a superior search result by linking up all the information in the world (to find out more about you and I) end up becoming 1984.  OK, I don't want to go off the deep end - since a lot of what Google does benefits everyone too with increased access to services.

John Battelle also brings up the idea of a Privacy Dashboard for Google - so people can control the information that Google is collecting - even if they don't use it or look at it only once - they have the option to control what Google knows and does with your information:

"...Danny (Sullivan) just asked Google about this idea in light of the Privacy Intl kerfluffle (his post is long and very good) and Google's recent post on "How Long Should Google Remember Searches?", and he found out Google is seriously considering that approach. From Danny's post:

I asked Google's global privacy counsel Peter Fleischer about this yesterday, when talking to him about the Privacy International survey.

"We're thinking hard internally along the digital dashboard-type of approach. Is there a way to give users a dashboard and visibility to all these elements and give them control," he said. "It would be hugely complicated to build, but in terms of that vision, I completely share it, and we're having deep discussions about it."

Andy Beal cites Robert Scoble -

"..Even Robert Scoble weighs in and slams Google’s PR efforts…

That said, Google’s PR is really stinky. Google isn’t paying attention to what normal people think of it anymore and it’s getting a bad reputation because of that. I heard it slammed over and over again for street-level views on Google Maps and no one from Google responded in most of the mainstream talk shows I heard talking about it. They should have a full-court “feel good” initiative where they have normal everyday citizens come in and meet the engineers, and look at the privacy issues."

And if you don't think people are taking perception of Google as Big Brother seriously enough - there's an initiative today to spend one day without Google- according to Richard MacManus at Read/WriteWeb in Day Without Google Begins!

"...Are you ready to spend a whole day, today (Tuesday), without using Google? There are literally hundreds of alternative search engines to choose from. Once again here are the 'ground rules', as prepared by AltSearchEngines editor Charles Knight:

1. All day Tuesday, June 12th, don’t use any of the 5 major search engines.

2. Avoid Meta search engines, since most of them include the major search engines.

3. Likewise, the specialized vertical search engines may be too narrowly focused.

4. Consider changing your homepage or downloading their toolbar. You can always uninstall everything and change back on Wednesday."

And, in my mind, it goes even deeper than Google as Big Brother.  We can only take in so much information. According to Marc Andreeseen, as quoted by Steve Rubel in The Attention Crash - we're reaching a point of over saturation - we can't handle much more input than we're getting now - at least, not at this time.

"...Marc says that we're not in a Web 2.0 bubble and I have to agree. We're not seeing nearly as many millionaires minted as we did the first go round. That's a sure sign.

However, there is definitely a bubble and therefore a crash coming. It's not financial. It's not related to the level of noise or startups. This crash is personal.

We are reaching a point where the number of inputs we have as individuals is beginning to exceed what we are capable as humans of managing. The demands for our attention are becoming so great, and the problem so widespread, that it will cause people to crash and curtail these drains. Human attention does not obey Moore's Law."

Perhaps, books like the The 4-Hour Workweek - which I briefly looked at yesterday (but I'm not sure I can go along with off-shoring most of my life..at least, not yet) are a reaction to over-saturation.   But who is the main driver that is enabling all this over-saturation.....more and more...it's all linked, at the backend..to Google.

That's the connection I wanted to make with three different ideas - with one common thread....Google.  Google is driving Search to it's logical conclusion ... to something beyond search .....  maybe it's the DoubleClick acquisition where they crossed the line, maybe the Search and Web History... not sure anymore.  Steve Rubel has some more thoughts:

"...More importantly, I have become fascinated with Tim's use of the 80/20 principle, which Gina describes here. With this philosophy in mind, I have trimmed projects, RSS feeds and emails to hone in on the 20 percent that's most important. It's also why I am not trying every new site that floats in my inbox and deleting pitches that are clearly off topic w/o even reading them. "

All I know is that we have so many choices, so much information, so many channels to watch (but not enough good content.... somethings never change) that we can become paralysed - as Ryan Healy, in a guest post on Brazen Careerist.

"... Flash forward to today and I’m still trying to figure out what it is that I love.  There are too many choices!  Should I join the Peace Corps and rebuild houses in Mongolia?  Should I work for a presidential campaign for a year?  Should I go to Wall Street and become a money making machine with no time for a social life? 

Not only can I choose any career, but I can choose any city, state or country.  My family lives all over the United States and my friends live all over the world.  I can communicate and keep relationships with them through the Internet no matter where I move.  I feel no pressure to get married or start a family any time soon. I can do all of these things when I am ready.

The choices go way beyond career and family.  I can choose from hundreds of TV channels, and if I don’t like the graphics I can choose to watch them in HD. The Internet, where I spend too much time, is a big black hole of decisions about information. Even the cereal aisle at the grocery store can turn into a painful decision process.  Life in the 21^st century is a constant choice."

OK, so I wrote a long post... much longer than I usually do - because I am linking the acceleration in information back, to Google, as an enabler.  Yes, Google wants to make it easier for us to see the forest from the trees, to make choices - yet, the process of making all world's information searchable (and not being Evil while doing it) they may have delivered an idea, that sounded better than the reality of what it delivered.