+googol. I just have to repeat this. Google, YOU WILL GUESS WRONG!
And my hunch is, you'll guess wrong about, oh, 8 times out of ten. Google search is the last place I go to look for something that's already one of my interests. For that I have twitter, my feed reader etc. I only google things that I have no, or little, familiarity with. Google search is supposed to tell me WHAT I DON'T ALREADY KNOW.
In fact, now when I think about it, you could use my information to make search better by LOWERING rather than increasing the rank of any result that I'm likely to already know.
I still think it's very poor design that the toggle is:
1 - Completely unlabeled, nor is the icon indicative/clear.
2 - Not sticky. It will turn itself back on, even though this is neither implied nor stated in the UI.
3 - The only way to actually turn it off is to dig into your search settings - what percentage of your users actually know that exists, much less think about looking there?
A UX lesson I just know: It is better to have options than unchangeable defaults.
Another UX lesson: do one thing and do it well. Apparently Google forgot that. I still think it is a great one. And yes, I know it pertains to the function software plays and web empires are a different beast, but I find the poetic irony of the down the rabbit hole fiasco being related to a *nix quib delicious.
I think as a professional it's incredibly useful to have little rules like this that provide a structure out of which to make quick judgements and decisions.
But don't become complacent and let these transform into actual beliefs. There is no quicker way to kill your creativity.
And my hunch is, you'll guess wrong about, oh, 8 times out of ten. Google search is the last place I go to look for something that's already one of my interests. For that I have twitter, my feed reader etc. I only google things that I have no, or little, familiarity with. Google search is supposed to tell me WHAT I DON'T ALREADY KNOW. In fact, now when I think about it, you could use my information to make search better by LOWERING rather than increasing the rank of any result that I'm likely to already know.