Google – The Evil Empire is Using The Force to Maim Your Search Results

Posted • December 5, 2009 • Comments Off

Google Forced “Personalized Search for Everyone” Really Helpful or Just a Ploy to Sell More AdWords?

Google has announced the a new “help” for your search results. They are actually turning on personalized search whether you are signed into your Google account or not.

Will this help you in your searching or will it help Google sell more PPC ads?

When I am researching a subject on the internet I always use the same web sites all the time.

Wait a minute isn’t that what bookmarks are for?
Why would I want to get information from new sites anyway?

This is where Google AdWords come in. If you want information from sites you don’t visit you can always use the paid ads at the top and the right side of the page of the page.

Personalized Search for everyone

Today we’re helping people get better search results by extending Personalized Search to signed-out users worldwide, and in more than forty languages. Now when you search using Google, we will be able to better provide you with the most relevant results possible. For example, since I always search for [recipes] and often click on results from epicurious.com, Google might rank epicurious.com higher on the results page the next time I look for recipes. Other times, when I’m looking for news about Cornell University’s sports teams, I search for [big red]. Because I frequently click on www.cornellbigred.com, Google might show me this result first, instead of the Big Red soda company or others.

Previously, we only offered Personalized Search for signed-in users, and only when they had Web History enabled on their Google Accounts. What we’re doing today is expanding Personalized Search so that we can provide it to signed-out users as well. 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. 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.

If I am looking for recipes or information on my favorite sports team from specific web sites I think I will use the bookmark feature in my browser.

To personalize your search results, Google needs to record what you’re doing. Does anyone else hear the alarm in the background?

• Can anyone see what you’ve searched for?
• How long do they keep this datat?
• Can you just turn it off?

Google Signed-in personalization

When you are signed in, Google will personalize your search experience based on your Web History. If you do not want to receive personalized results while you are signed in, you can turn off Web History and remove it from your Google Account. You can also view and remove individual items from your Web History.

Google Signed-out customization

When you are not signed in, Google will customize your search experience based on past search information linked to your browser using a cookie. Google stores up to 180 days of signed-out search activity linked to your browser’s cookie, including queries and results you click.

(Post from Search Engine Optimizician.)
An important part of this “Personalized Search for everyone” change is realizing that it is impossible for you or anyone else (Well! other than Google that is.) to see what you’ve searched on or clicked on in the past, as long as you’re using the signed-out option.

So what does all this mean?
Will Google’s “Personalized search” sell more AdWords?
Is the Google Empire trying to kill true relevant organic search?
Has the Evil Empire created another Windows Longhorn/Vista faux pas?
Will Bing become more popular like Apple did when Microsoft launched Windows Vista?

Only time will tell. Maybe Google will be forced to spin “Personalized search Mojave” or even launch “Personalized search 8″.

I have already changed my personal search engine to Bing. I find the results fit my parameters much better than Google anyway.

From a SEO perspective this opens up a whole new #10 can of worms.

Late,
Gary Pool

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