Your Google Results May Be Flawed

[Mesa SEO Solutions]

Google created personalized search a few years back and this feature may be providing you with false search results. Personalized search works like this. Every time you search from your Google account it records what you click on. And based on this information it will eventually start providing you with different results.

It works two ways. If you click on your website as it appears in the results then the next time it may appear higher than it actually is ranking.

If you click on your competitors websites then these sites will start eventually appearing higher in the search results than they actually are. This is what most people do. I should know because I get calls all the time from potential clients that are buried on the second page.

However, when I search for their keyword phrase I often find them ranking very well on the first page. When I explain this to them I usually loose a client because they realize that they did good and that they don't need me. Lately, this has been happening on a regular basis.

The moral of this story is search outside of your Google accounts for accurate results! It may save you lots of money and time.

 

[Dirky47]

Oh. that was bad. Don't you tried to explain again these things to your clients?

 

[Mesa SEO Solutions]

Oh. that was bad. Don't you tried to explain again these things to your clients?

If you had visited my blog and read the post you would know that I am very much upfront with potential clients about the situation. I recently saved a potential client lots of money when he discovered that he was ranking in the 5th position in the Google SERP's for his primary keyword phrase.

He decided that ranking 5th was good enough and he didn't need my service. Actually, I have saved potential clients thousands of dollars over the last year by point this out. However, I know not every one will inform potential clients that they might not actually need their services. That was the whole point of this post to save people money by making them aware of how personalized search can give inaccurate search results.

Actually, I wanted to link directly to the post but I didn't want to be seen as self promoting. If I mod wants to allow this then I will gladly provide that link. The whole idea is that awareness of this issue my save others lots of money.

 

[RLW]

If I click that little arrow and bump results to the top of the list in my personal search, do you think Google uses that information to assume that the result matched my query? Or do you think that is something they will do down the track?

 

[chandan]

i think it based on save history feature with google accounts

 

[enlytend]

FYI, you can opt out of personalized search so YOU can see unbiased results through the "web history" link.

You can be logged out of all your Google accounts but still have personalized search enabled. Google recently made search personalization the default regardless of whether or not you even HAVE a google account. Most people don't know it exists, much less how to opt out.

 

[Mesa SEO Solutions]

FYI, you can opt out of personalized search so YOU can see unbiased results through the "web history" link.

You can be logged out of all your Google accounts but still have personalized search enabled. Google recently made search personalization the default regardless of whether or not you even HAVE a google account. Most people don't know it exists, much less how to opt out.

The are a lot of variables here, but most users are not likely to know them. They simply log into Gmail, check their emails, and then start checking their keywords. This is where most people have problems but simply logging out of your account solves the problem.

I see this often enough to realize that it is a very common problem and it is causing people to buy services that they do not need. I have saved potential clients thousands of dollars by point this out.

 

[Domain Detective]

I would be interested in clarification on this. I know that if I am logged into my google account then my own personal searches can influence the search returns. However I thought this was not the case if I then log out of my Google account. When I have logged out before this does seem to change the results given. Anyone know the definitive answer to this.

 

[MrRhee]

Turning off personalization : Personalized Search - Accounts Help

 

[Mesa SEO Solutions]

I would be interested in clarification on this. I know that if I am logged into my google account then my own personal searches can influence the search returns. However I thought this was not the case if I then log out of my Google account. When I have logged out before this does seem to change the results given. Anyone know the definitive answer to this.

If you search outside of your Google account then personalized search has no effect. It only occurs when you are in your accounts. The difference can be amazing as we tend to click on our competitions sites thus pushing our sites lower.

 

[enlytend]

If you search outside of your Google account then personalized search has no effect. It only occurs when you are in your accounts.

Sorry, but that's NOT true! Personalized search became the default for everyone, signed in or not, about 2 months ago :

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).

Source: Official Google Blog: Personalized Search for everyone

How to turn off Google personalization: http://www.google.com/support/accounts/bin/answer.py?answer=54048

More Reading:

Google Now Personalizes Everyone’s Search Results
SEOmoz | How Personalized Search Changes SEO (and Doesn't)