We get the best questions from our clients! Some are ones we think deserve a little more explanation here on our blog.
This past week one of our assisted living clients posed a question to us that had been driving them nuts.
The executive director and sales manager had been trying to track how they ranked in Google search engine results. The two of them had been working hard to improve their content and the overall family experience on the site. They wanted to see it was paying off.
Each one of them decided to conduct a Google search for designated key words/phrases three or four times a week to see how they ranked for each one. And how their competitors ranked.
To make a long story bearable, they soon discovered they had searched at almost the same day and time on a few different occasions.
Google Searches & Senior Living
Why is that newsworthy you might be asking yourself?
It’s because the ED and the sales manager got different results.
Each one searched for the same thing at almost the same time. So why did Google return senior living different communities for each of them?
This scenario is referred to as the Filter Bubble. It’s caused by Google filtering your results based on personal information they know about you.
Yep, Facebook isn’t the only one paying attention to how many times you search for the date the new vodka bar around the corner will open or when tickets for Pink go on sale.
Google puts you in a bubble based on your personal search history and what they predict you are most likely to click on.
While the fine folks at Google (no, I didn’t insert my sarcasm font here, I mean that sincerely), say they’ve tried to take steps to correct their algorithms so this doesn’t happen, the truth is it still does.
This means family members who search for assisted living or memory care communities will likely see different things. Even if they sign out of Google, there is still a disparity in results.
If you want to learn more, DuckDuckGo conducted some interesting research on the topic. You can read the results at “Measuring the Filter Bubble: ‘How Google Is Influencing What You Click.”
Drop Us a Note
If you have a question you’d like answered or would like to talk about getting some assistance writing and editing content for your senior living site from the industry’s best content crew, drop us a note. We’d love to help!