Somebody's Watching Me? Contextual Searches Monitor Where You Go on the Web

No, it's not a coincidence. After ordering Dominos three times a week, it's no surprise that advertisements for the pizza place pop up regularly in your browser.

Researchers are now referring to this as "contextual search," which describes the capability for search engines to recognize a multitude of factors beyond just the search text for which a user is seeking, according to adjunct instructor of management professor at the University of Notre Dame's Mendoza College of Business and technology expert Brian Proffitt.

Contextual searches can allow Google Now to provide information based on location by accessing calendar entries and travel information messages in Gmail accounts.Available on Android for the last six months, Google Now was just released for the iPhone/iPad platform.

"You no longer have to search for content, content can search for you, which flips the world of search completely on its head," said Proffitt, according to a press release."Basically, search engines examine your request and try to figure out what it is you really want. The better the guess, the better the perceived value of the search engine. In the days before computing was made completely mobile by smartphones, tablets and netbooks, searches were only aided by previous searches.

"Today, mobile computing is adding a new element to contextual searches. By knowing where and when a search is being made, contextual search engines can infer much more about what you want and deliver more robust answers. For example, a search for nearby restaurants at breakfast time in Chicago will give you much different answers than the exact same search in Tokyo at midnight."

Context can include more than location and time. Search engines will also account for other users' searches made in the same place and even the known interests of the user.

"Someday soon," Proffitt said, "you'll watch a trailer of the latest romantic movie, and the next time you search for movie times at the local theater, that movie will be prominently displayed."

Also on the horizon, contextual searches may be teamed up with the "Internet of Things," a euphemism used to describe an inter-connected network of devices large and small, reporting data on what's going on around them.