Google Personalization

Posted at December 14, 2009

For a while now, Google has been offering personalized search results when you are logged into your Google account.
They have now extended personalized search functionality to users who are not signed in.

This applies to Google users around the world, in over 40 languages.

“This addition enables us to customize search results for you based upon 180 days of search activity linked to an anonymous cookie in your browser,” Google says. “It’s completely separate from your Google Account and Web History (which are only available to signed-in users). You’ll know when we customize results because a ‘View customizations’ link will appear on the top right of the search results page. Clicking the link will let you see how we’ve customized your results and also let you turn off this type of customization.”

Don’t worry, Google lets you turn personalized search off altogether. For users that are not signed in, just click “web history” in the top right corner of a search results page, then click “disable customizations.” You can also clear your browser’s cookies.

What Does All This Mean To You?

As a searcher, you may find you are getting better results. They will keep track of what you’ve been clicking on over the past 180 days and in future searches, the results will be fine tuned towards the sites and topics you have indicated an interest in.

As a site owner, it isn’t a bad thing. So many people are questioning “can you still rank on top with personalization” and the answer is yes. If you continue to have quality content and quality links, then your site can still come up on top. If your listing in the SERPs (search engine results) page is compelling and you earn clicks, then personalization will work in your favor because you are more likely to come up again when that person queries other similar phrases.

SEO Firms will find ways to improve your results, even with personalization in place. Focusing on longer tail phrases and less generic phrases will be important.

This probably sounds like I’m pushing my own agenda a little (and I am, I do want your business, but it’s also true)….with all the changes lately, an SEO team working on your behalf and staying current on all these changes and what they mean is crucial.