Google Tracking Frequent Users

BrianGa writes "According to this article, Google has started placing a counter on its home page for a small number of its most frequent users. Most Google users do not have it, but a select few now have a counter that notes the actual number of searches made. For the curious, an explanatory page linked to the counter reveals that this is a test, or limited-sample experiment of a new search counting feature."

Comments

Re:Google is dead : /

[Anonymous Coward]

My ISP (internet express in regional NSW, australia) receently entered into a contract with MSN to supply search services and with altavista and google search pages only the MSN one comes up instead

I do get to google through a numeric address set in /etc/hosts but who wants to do that all the time?

We really get ripped off out here there are no big ISP options in country australia

Google as an indicator of consumer demand

[benjamindees]

I wonder if any of the search engines have actually begun to use search patterns as an insight into consumer demands and profit off of such foresight.

It wouldn't be hard at all for a search engine to identify particularly insightful individuals, ones who consistently search for things in advance of their general availability or in advance of the masses, and use them as a barometer of future consumer demand.

That person could, of course, never know that they were being monitored in such a way. Imagine the possibilities of subverting such a system: make frequent searches for whatever you want and *poof* it appears a few months later.