Columns > Just Behave
Just
Behave dives deep into searcher behavior and
how search engines constantly tweak their operations to
improve user experience. Columnists discuss recent research,
searcher behavior stats and future trends such as
personalization and more. The Just Behave column appears on
Fridays at Search Engine Land.
To get this column via email or feed, visit our columns page.
Jun. 27, 2008 at 7:10am by Gord Hotchkiss
Human Hardware: The Paradox of Choice
In the last few years, there have been two best selling books published that seem diametrically and philosophically opposed: The Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz and The Long Tail by Chris Anderson. Both explore the explosion of choice that we have in our modern world and how we...
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Jun. 13, 2008 at 7:21am by Gord Hotchkiss
Human Hardware: Risk vs Reward, Expressed Through Search
We are emotional creatures. In fact, we are the most emotional creatures on the planet. Emotions are what cause us to act. The very word emotion means “to move” in Latin. Emotions move us to action. They cause us to avoid danger and pursue pleasure. They propel us to...
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May. 30, 2008 at 7:15am by Gord Hotchkiss
Human Hardware: The Subconscious Side of Search
In the last column, we explored some studies that indicate that conscious will might not be the cause of our actions, but instead might be just one of the effects of a motivator still undefined. Conscious will could simply be a feedback mechanism that helps us keep track of...
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May. 16, 2008 at 7:26am by Gord Hotchkiss
Human Hardware: The Illusion Of Conscious Searching
You know what you’re doing, right? We are all rational beings. We are all blessed with huge neocortexes and use them on a regular basis. This is especially so when we do something as thoughtful as use a search engine. Our rational loop is kicked into high gear. Right?...
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May. 2, 2008 at 7:19am by Gord Hotchkiss
Human Hardware: You’re Looking, But Are You Seeing?
So far in the Human Hardware series, we’ve dealt with working memory (a just released study confirms the limitations of this. See my note at the end of this column), differences between sexes, and Dunbar’s number (Parts One and Two). Today, I want to explore how we can look...
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Apr. 18, 2008 at 7:18am by Gord Hotchkiss
Human Hardware: How Many Friends Can We Have Online?
In the last column, I introduced British evolutionary psychologist Robin Dunbar’s theory that we have cognitive limits to the number of social relationships we can maintain, and the importance of social grooming in all primates, including humans. Just as a quick recap, based on the relative size of our...
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Apr. 4, 2008 at 7:15am by Gord Hotchkiss
Human Hardware: Dunbar's Number
Few things about the internet generate as much buzz as social networking. Suddenly, it looks like the very fabric of our society might be rewoven online. The world becomes our community as we erase geographic boundaries to connect based on shared interests and ideals. Whether your community of choice...
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Mar. 21, 2008 at 7:19am by Gord Hotchkiss
Human Hardware: Men And Women
In this week’s column on Human Hardware, we look at the differences between the two basic models of humans: men and women. As a species, the vast majority of our history has been spent not really thinking about the differences between men and women. The distinctions seemed obvious, and...
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Mar. 7, 2008 at 7:12am by Gord Hotchkiss
Human Hardware: Working Memory
At the recent SMX show in Santa Clara I had the opportunity to present at a couple of sessions that explored the topic of user behavior. One of the things I said in one of them is that humans are more alike than we’re different. Because of this, there...
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Feb. 22, 2008 at 7:19am by Gord Hotchkiss
Two Approaches To Determining Intent: The Wisdom Of Crowds And Personal Values - VortexDNA
As I said in my last column, disambiguating intent is the holy grail of search. John Battelle called search the “database of intentions.” While technically correct, right now those intentions are only vaguely understood. The breadth and complexity of a concept is squeezed into the restrictive container of a...
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Feb. 1, 2008 at 7:09am by Gord Hotchkiss
Two Approaches To Determining Intent: The Wisdom Of Crowds And Personal Values
I’ve said a number of times that the holy grail of search is to disambiguate intent. A two or three word query, given the complexity of the English language, is just not enough to confidently provide results that will always be relevant and useful. But up to now, it’s...
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Jan. 18, 2008 at 7:14am by Gord Hotchkiss
Scanning Barriers On The Search Results Page
A few columns ago I talked about user behavior on the results page and compared it to a shopping mall. In recent eye tracking studies, we’ve seen that several factors can create barriers or “walls” in this mall that can keep traffic from ever finding your listing....
See Related Stories In: Just Behave, Search Engines: Wikipedia, Stats: Search Behavior
Jan. 4, 2008 at 7:14am by Gord Hotchkiss
The Virtual World: Darwin Says We Can Handle It
One of the things that has always struck me when I look at online user behavior is the scattered and frenetic scanning of the page. This becomes particularly clear when you look at eye tracking results. We quickly shift our eyes to cue to cue, picture to picture, headline...
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Dec. 14, 2007 at 7:07am by Michael Ferguson
Should All These Searches Be Forgotten?
The big search engines released end-of-the-year lists that intrigue and entertain. They can also remind us of the fundamentals of search user behavior. Each year when we look back at top searches, we get to see what searchers are up to and measure the strides in human development over...
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Nov. 30, 2007 at 7:08am by Gord Hotchkiss
The Search Shopping Mall: Moving Up The Long Tail
Some time ago, I did a blog post called the “Other Long Tail of Search”. When Chris Anderson’s book came out, several smart search marketers realized that the long tail phenomenon applied to our industry as well. If you look at the keywords that drive traffic to your site...
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Nov. 2, 2007 at 7:04am by Gord Hotchkiss
Taking On ARF, Engagement, Interruptive Advertising... And Whatever Else You've Got!
In 2005, The Advertising Research Foundation (ARF), through their MI4 Initiative, decided to embark on the Quixotic quest of defining engagement. The impetus was finding a more appropriate and applicable metric that could stretch across the rapidly expanding number of channels that were exploding through digital delivery. So, the...
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Oct. 19, 2007 at 7:07am by Gord Hotchkiss
Some Big Ideas for a Friday
I love big ideas. TED is the conference I most want to attend. I love talking about big ideas. In fact, as you read this, I’ll have the privilege of being one of the Canadians to be featured in Yahoo’s Big Idea Chair campaign (although the spending 30 minutes...
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Oct. 5, 2007 at 7:08am by Gord Hotchkiss
How We Navigate Our Online Landscape
At Search Engine Strategies in San Jose this August, I had the good fortune of being able to share a panel with Nico Brooks from Atlas. I've always admired Nico as one of the more strategic thinkers in this space and feel a kindredship, both through our love of...
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Sep. 21, 2007 at 7:08am by Gord Hotchkiss
Eye Tracking On Universal And Personalized Search
In the past two columns, I've featured the interviews (Part 1, Part II) of where search might go in the next three years. The two themes consistently mentioned as the most important for the future have been personalization and blended search results. Being a user-centric type of person, my...
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Sep. 14, 2007 at 7:17am by Sep Kamvar
Organizing The World’s Push Content: The iGoogle Ecosystem
Today, we welcome another guest author to Just Behave. This week, we're pleased to welcome Sep Kamvar, the lead software engineer of personalization at Google. In the first of two parts, Sep looks at how the introduction of iGoogle and gadgets have created a new ecosystem of push content...
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Sep. 7, 2007 at 9:20am by Gord Hotchkiss
Search In The Year 2010: Part Two
Several weeks ago (seemingly years) Just Behave featured Part One of the summarized interviews with my personal dream team of search usability: Jakob Nielsen, the Web’s best-known usability guru Marissa Mayer, Google’s VP of user experience and interface design Michael Ferguson, one of the architects of Ask’s unique user...
