Google Surveys

File:Google_Consumer_Surveys_model.svg

Google Surveys offered a web interface for designing surveys and provided the audience to take them. The survey questions had to meet certain requirements regarding length and content.

Google received money from business customers such as market research firms and small businesses who create the surveys. In addition to the paid services, Google also offered a free survey for websites with predefined questions targeted at people visiting the website.{{cite web|url=https://www.google.com/insights/consumersurveys/pricing|title=Pricing|publisher=Google Consumer Surveys|accessdate=September 22, 2016}} Every time a user responded to a survey, the publishers would earn {{US$|0.05}}.{{Citation needed|date=September 2022}}

From the consumer side, the surveys worked as a paywall (also called a "survey-wall") for websites offering premium content.{{cite web|url=https://www.google.com/insights/consumersurveys/static/consumer_surveys_whitepaper.pdf|title=Comparing Google Consumer Surveys to Existing Probability and Non-Probability Based Internet Surveys|first1=Paul|last1=McDonald|first2=Matt|last2=Mohebbi|first3=Brett|last3=Slatkin|publisher=Google Inc.|accessdate=September 22, 2016}} Users visiting these websites had the option of responding to a survey to access content for free.{{cite news|last=Peoples|first=Glenn|title=Business Matters: Google Consumer Surveys Pick Up Where Micropayments Left Off|url=http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/industry/digital-and-mobile/business-matters-google-consumer-surveys-1006632752.story|accessdate=November 11, 2012|newspaper=Billboard|date=March 30, 2012|archive-date=November 9, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121109155442/http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/industry/digital-and-mobile/business-matters-google-consumer-surveys-1006632752.story|url-status=dead}}

Google Surveys utilized inferred demographics to balance its sample, gauging respondent demographics based on their past web browsing activity.{{cite news|title=Which Pollsters To Trust In 2018 |url=https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/which-pollsters-to-trust-in-2018/|date = May 31, 2018|work = FiveThirtyEight}}

The product was launched on March 29, 2012.{{cite magazine|url=http://www.adweek.com/digital/google-unveils-new-revenue-option-web-publishers-139261/|title=Google Unveils New Revenue Option for Web Publishers. Microsurvey product to provide an alternative to paywalls|magazine=AdWeek|date=March 29, 2012|last=Shields|first=Mike|accessdate=March 18, 2017}}{{cite web|url=http://marketingland.com/google-consumer-surveys-9008|title=Google Launches Consumer Surveys|last=Schwarz|first=Barry|date=March 29, 2012|accessdate=March 18, 2017}}

On February 19, 2015, Google announced Consumer Surveys as a platform for publishers to monetize their online content.{{cite web|last=John|first=Tony|title=Google Consumer Surveys: An additional way to monetize your site|url=http://adsense.blogspot.in/2015/02/sign-up-for-google-consumer-surveys.html|accessdate=February 19, 2015|date=February 19, 2015}} Initially, this platform was available only for publishers from the US, UK and Canada.{{cite web|last=John|first=Tony|title=Google introduces Consumer Surveys Platform for publishers|url=http://www.techulator.com/resources/14166-How-to-join-Google-Consumer-Surveys.aspx|publisher=Techulator|accessdate=February 19, 2015|date=February 19, 2015}} Publishers' payments were made through the AdSense payment system, but the platform had its own management and reporting console.

On October 19, 2016, Google announced that it had renamed the product from Google Consumer Surveys to Google Surveys and was moving it to part of the Google Analytics product suite.

In September 2022, Google announced that Google Surveys would close on November 1, 2022.

File:Google_Consumer_Surveys_results_page.png

Notable uses of Google Surveys included voter information tools and behavior surveys of holiday travelers.{{cite news|last=PR Web|title=Older Consumers Plan To Do the Most Holiday Shopping Online|url=http://www.timesunion.com/business/press-releases/article/Older-Consumers-Plan-To-Do-the-Most-Holiday-4019957.php|accessdate=November 11, 2012|newspaper=Times Union|date=November 8, 2012}} Google Surveys published voter opinion polls leading up to the 2012 US presidential elections. According to New York Times' blogger and statistician Nate Silver, the Google Surveys' election polls were ranked second in terms of reliability and lack of bias in predicting election results for the 2012 presidential election.{{cite news|last=Silver|first=Nate|title=Which Polls Fared Best (and Worst) in the 2012 Presidential Race|url=http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/10/which-polls-fared-best-and-worst-in-the-2012-presidential-race/#more-37396|accessdate=November 11, 2012|newspaper=The New York Times|date=November 10, 2012}} However, it was the worst performing pollster for the 2016 presidential election.{{cite news|title=The Problem With a Crowd of New Online Polls|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/27/upshot/online-polls-election.html|date = September 27, 2024|newspaper=The New York Times}}

Pew Research Center conducted a series of tests to evaluate Google Surveys in consultation with Google. In November 2012, Pew independently published an analysis of the results up to that point, which stated in part that a "comparison of several demographic questions asked by Pew Research indicates that the Google Consumer Surveys sample appears to conform closely to the demographic composition of the overall internet population".{{cite web|url=http://www.people-press.org/2012/11/07/a-comparison-of-results-from-surveys-by-the-pew-research-center-and-google-consumer-surveys/|date=November 7, 2012|title=A Comparison of Results from Surveys by the Pew Research Center and Google Consumer Surveys|publisher=Pew Research Center|accessdate=September 22, 2016}}

Google Surveys has been compared to SurveyMonkey (which also offers both a survey creation interface and a way to purchase an audience), where it was praised for its low cost per response but was found to have less flexibility in designing the survey.{{cite web|url=http://e-m-marketing.com/blog/2016/02/head-to-head-google-surveys-vs-survey-monkey/|date=February 9, 2016|title=Head-to-Head: SurveyMonkey vs. Google Consumer Surveys|publisher=EM Marketing, Inc.|accessdate=September 23, 2016|author=Ryan Rigoli}}{{cite web|url=http://www.siegemedia.com/creation/google-consumer-surveys-for-content-marketers|date=November 6, 2014|title=Google Consumer Surveys: A Guide for Content Marketers|publisher=Siege Media|accessdate=September 23, 2016}}

Google also reviewed Google Surveys in a white paper, concluding that "Google Consumer Surveys can be used in place of more traditional Internet-based panels without sacrificing accuracy" while also stating that "since Google Consumer Surveys only allows one-question or screening two-question surveys, analysis of the relationships between survey questions are difficult or sometimes not even possible".{{rp|10}}

• Comparison of survey software
• Survata
• Jotform

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{{Google LLC}}

{{Survey data collection|Survata = Survata}}

Surveys

Category:Polling companies