I remember the last week of October in 2010: there was a flurry around the office when we discovered that Google had merged place results with organic search results. I sat down and wrote an article about it right away. This change was actually really good news for our company and our clients–the more important that place becomes in search rankings, the easier it would be for us to help our local clients compete against big, national competitors. We were excited about it, and we immediately started rolling out maps optimization and other kinds of Local SEO campaigns to leverage these new opportunities.
I thought about that week driving home from work yesterday, listening to people on the radio talking about hearings that Congress is holding to investigate how Google and Apple are using the location-tracking data from smartphones that they (or other parties) might be collecting to build movement profiles of subscribers. I was floored. As place has become increasingly important in search over the past six months, Google has already been moving to capitalize on the SEO renovations that everyone’s been doing.
The Wall Street Journal summed up the mechanism at the heart of the matter succinctly, reporting that, “Android phones collect their location every few seconds and transmit the data to Google at least several times an hour…also transmitting the name, location and signal of any nearby Wi-Fi networks as well as a unique phone identifier.” There are different specs on how Apple would be able to collect location-data from iPhones, but the problem is essentially the same across the board.
If location can be tracked in real-time, marketing can happen in real-time. If movement profiles can be constructed of users there are possibilities for marketing that would resemble science fiction. If marketing companies know your route home from work or where you like to go on Wednesday night and they can toggle that with–say–information from your Facebook account, they’re going to be able to target you to sell you on deals in ways that would be more like telepathy than like Groupon or Facebook Ads. Marketing companies might end up knowing more about you than you know about yourself.
So there is pretty strong motivation for movement profiles to be built up for marketing purposes. Apple and Google assure Congress they’re not collecting location info for these purposes, and there is no evidence to the contrary at this point. However, it seems more or less inevitable that this is going to happen if the opportunity is there–whether Apple, Google, or the apps on your phone are collecting the information, somebody is going to be doing it. And, indeed, they probably already are. As the WSJ reports, “The Google and Apple[‘s Congressional hearings] follow… findings [from] last year that some of the most popular smartphone apps use location data and other personal information… more aggressively –in some cases sharing it with third-party companies without the user’s consent or knowledge.”
The question is: How concerned about this should we be? The IP address of the computer that you’re searching from already informs your search results, which–obviously–shapes the way that marketing forces are approaching you. If you live in Chicago, when you search for ‘Thai restaurants,’ both Google sponsored links and organic search results will be arranged in a manner that is more or less contingent on your location. As far as I know, there is no such thing as ‘pure’ or ‘objective global search results’ that can be accessed on any specific search engine portal accessed from any discrete IP. So there’s nothing new about this trend in marketing strategy. All search results are geographically contingent. The momentum that’s been growing around Place functionality over the past year would tend to indicate that, if anything, they will only become more so over time.
If anything, in the long term, the kinds of informational interactivity that movement profiles would open up would be likely to make local markets more efficient and productive. Social Media Marketing certainly takes location into account–and social media marketing is poised to become the supreme platform for marketing in the next decade. And that’s a good thing. It means that we’re having a conversation with the industries we’re buying from rather than just having commercials and products dumped on us. There will obviously need to be regulations about how this sort of location-tracking information can be used in court, and all of those questions will get hammered out in due time.
The jury is definitely still out on this question. I personally am still conflicted about whether this is going to be a good thing or a bad thing in the long run.
What do you think? Would movement profiles be an automatic negative, or could they make a contribution to market efficiency and adaptability? Please let me know what your thoughts on this subject are in the comment section.
11 comments
Bruce Bates says:
May 24, 2011
Movement profiles would be great for targeting ads, however its an automatic negative and I hope that our congress continues to monitor this and stop it from happening.
People don’t think outside of their small little box. Yeah so its great for marketing and free enterprise, but how great is it when we live in a world where security threats, viruses, and breaking into computers is an everyday norm?
How great will it be when some hacker posts how to crack the google tracking code? or the apple code? How great is it going to be if some terrorist group can track any man woman, child, political person, or anyone else with a “smart phone”. If we think that can’t happen to these big companies, let me remind you Microsoft has been the cornerstone for computer software, and the richest of companies, and they have yet to release a product that isn’t eventually cracked and broken.
I think people need to stop asking “what can it do for me” and start asking “what can it do if it gets in the wrong hands”.
Thomas Stone says:
May 25, 2011
You’re making a number of valid points here, Bruce. I totally agree with you that there are going to be some potentially obnoxious side-effects that go along with this shift. The same way that Spam came with email. I’m afraid that, realistically, people who don’t want movement profiles are pretty much going to have to give up using smartphones. Which–sincerely–I think is a totally valid life choice. I myself don’t own a television because I can’t stomach the way that branding and advertisement fully interpentrate all the content. But seriously, thanks for posting your concerns and I don’t think we’re at antipodes on this issue. I don’t disagree with you, I just don’t see this trend being arrested. In fact, Groupon Now launched just last Friday. This whole concept of virtual telepathy and marketing to you where you’re at? Its already happening.
Daniel Snyder says:
May 25, 2011
Great thoughts here Bruce, really agree with you. There is simply not enough accountability for these large companies and these types of technology.
Joe says:
Jun 10, 2011
Everything that can be used for good can be used for bad. In this case, the tracking devices that are on many cell phones and vehicles are being used to solve crimes, help people find directions or even keep track of your young child. Can all of these devices be cracked by a criminal to be used for something bad? Of course, but that is much more unlikely since security on these devices are always changing and only a small percentage of people would be able to crack them and even a smaller percentage would want to do it to you. I think this technology is here to stay because of the convenience it offers. Everyone is using this technology and no one will stop if they are told someone other than Google can track your movements. Most of the time people are telling everyone where they are anyways by “checking in” to some place through social apps. If you have criminal intentions and you want to know where someone is or will be, then it is much easier to go through their mail, check their Facebook page, follow them, listen to their cell phone conversations, plant a tracking device or even just talk to them. Most people can be found or tracked very easily without going through the trouble of cracking their phone (which can possibly lead back to the hacker). High end criminals are actually more low tech because they don’t want to leave a trace. This subject is just another subject to get people paranoid. The best news content scares people. “Be careful with your phone. Criminals are tracking you!” I would worry more about the security of your PC, what you post on social networks and what you discuss on your cell phone. That is the information those hackers want. Hackers want valuable passwords and identities. I could go on and on. My point is that stuff is mainly in the movies. People want their GPS and there is no danger in having one. I would not mind some ads to inform me of local events, sales, etc. I like how ads target me now with things that I am interested in. I hated it ten years ago where every banner was flashing a jackpot and gave me a seizure.
Daniel Snyder says:
Jun 14, 2011
Great thoughts here Joe! Thanks for sharing. I agree in some regards with you, however I do believe their needs to be some established standards across the board for security on these issues. Yes they develop and change all the time, but the thing of it is that mobile devices are used in the same way as personal computers now and passwords are stored there as well. If hacking a phone is easier then a desktop then it just might be done. I would suspect it would actually lead to increased anonymity for the hacker as opposed to leading back to them easier than other hacks.
DiTesco says:
May 25, 2011
Well I think that “movement marketing” could be good for companies or marketers, but not necessarily for us, individuals. I like to know that I am still in control of my choices and not have someone slap with “an offer” just because they know my behavior. Plus, I don’t think people in general would like the idea that they are being tracked, one way or another. Maybe it is more a privacy issue than anything else. And Bruce has a valid point, rather than thinking what good it can do, maybe the right question is what harm can it do in the wrong hands. Because it is going to happen…
Thomas Stone says:
May 25, 2011
Again, I have to agree with DiTesco when he says, “It is going to happen.” It is going to happen. They question now is not should this or should this not happen. It’s: considering that this is going to happen, how are we going to respond? Will there be negatives? Yes. Positives? Yes.
Anna says:
Jun 1, 2011
Hi, Thomas
My view is that it will only benefit the marketing. If I live in Seattle I would like to see the local results. I don’t want to look through dozens of search results from all over the world just because they have a higher position in Google.
I’m not afraid of being tracked, maybe because I’m not doing anything wrong 🙂
By the way, our wise specialists will invent some app that will be able to change or hide our location or change our profile. Let’s wait.
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Jun 4, 2011
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Travis@TradeTechSports says:
Jun 7, 2011
Local targeted ads are the wave of the future. Just look at Groupon, if there was a daily deal near you they could “Push” you an alert saying hey go here and buy something.
Henry says:
Jul 23, 2011
Phone tracking seems to have become the norm with smart phones nowadays. A friend downloaded an app the other day which allows him to find his iphone 4 anywhere in the world and remotely disable it in case of theft. Targeted advertising would be pretty useful (and certainly more desirable than mass spamming) but we need to question just how safe such technology really is. Regardless of whether or not we’re not doing anything wrong, nobody really wants to live in a ‘big brother’ type society. There are evidently massive legal hurdles concerning individual’s privacy and at current, there’s no ‘opt out’ box to tick. Real-time tracking of people (whether it be through their mobile phones or electronic national ID cards) is inevitable in the near future. The question therefore is not whether we want it, but rather who do we want to have access to it?