In what may be the biggest change ever to come to the search engine results page, under the cover of a Friday afternoon, Google announced that Personalized Search is now the default behavior even if you are not logged in to a Google account.

“Today we're helping people get better search results by extending Personalized Search to signed-out users worldwide, and in more than forty languages.” – Google Blog

That’s a stunning statement that basically means every computer connecting to Google is now being personalized regardless if you have signed in or not. Every desktop, laptop, work computer, family computer, kiosk, Internet café – every computer that accesses Google is now being personalized.

The possible impact to all is staggering.

What is Personalized Search?

Personalized Search is when the search results are customized away from the default Google results to reflect historical queries done on the computer at hand. Google is saving all searches and the search results that were clicked on – in order to provide search results that are supposedly tailored to the interests and needs of the searcher.

If John searches for ‘widgets’ today and begins to use the top site regularly and then continues to research ‘widgets’ tomorrow, it is presumed that top site will weigh highly in his Personalized Search. This higher ranking will be for the original keyword phrase as well as other related keywords. If a new Web site pushes hard to reach the top spot John may never see it because his Personalized Search is still weighing very strong the site he used in the past.

Here are some pictures I’ve done for a search. To trigger the instance of Personalized Search while NOT signed in to Google I first searched on the keyword, ‘ Chicago’. Next, I searched for, ‘Internet marketing’. This triggered an explicit notification:

The red arrow points to a link titled, 'View Customizations'. This is where Google is telling me Personal Search is running and that based upon things they know about me personally, they have altered the search results. I can read more about it by clicking the link:

I highlighted the significant part in yellow. Google is saying that it used our search history to customize the search results.

What does this mean for Search Engine Marketing?

Before a user can be served personalized search results they must establish a pattern or historical search preference for different queries and the Web sites they visit most often. Remember, this is done by machine and without the need to be signed in to Google so everyone will see these results. Most people will likely not notice a difference unless they are unable to find what they are looking for.

This means it is much more important than ever to get users to click early in the purchase cycle, when they’re gathering information and inadvertently – building their history in Google for that market niche. It also means that it will be more difficult to rank well in Google than it has been previously- especially for new Web sites. The way it worked before your Web site was competing against other sites above and below your positions, but now you’re competing against the users as well.

Google’s search results may lock in sites that you or your customers have already interacted with. Are you currently ranking in the top 5 results on Google? On the first page? For how many of your best keywords?

What else does this mean?

• Ads on Google search will have more marketing value. If it becomes hard to consistently reach your audience through the natural search results, Google Adwords becomes a more attractive option.
• Ads on Google will have more value to the consumer. If the search results don’t change as dramatically as before, the Ads will be where you can see something different. Something interesting.
• Search Engine Optimization has changed. It’s a new game. Previously, do-it-yourselfers could do well in low to moderately competitive industries if they really applied themselves. Personalized Search has changed that.
• Yahoo.com, Bing.com and Ask.com have got to be excited about Google’s announcement. If they can turn a PR campaign against Google they can potentially attract many new users.
• Google will make more money. Many companies, especially small and mid-sized companies who will not hire professional SEO services, will lose natural search engine traffic. Many of them will simply purchase Google Ads, but since so many of them will be doing so the Ad prices will almost certainly rise.
• Building Web sites and pages with intrinsic value will be more important than ever. Web sites will spend more to focus on quality, valuable content and a positive user experience.
• Investing in Internet Marketing services will be undertaken by even more companies seeking a competitive edge.

What Should You Do?

If you currently have strong natural search results you will need to strengthen your efforts and possible make changes to what you are currently doing on your Web site concerning search marketing. Making sure that users not only click your listing in the search results, but that they also stay on your Web site has become very important to maintaining top listings in Google.

If your Web site is not ranking well the time to start is today, now. The longer you wait the more difficult it will be to climb out of the hole that is being dug for your site. It is not a matter of, “if we wait 4 months we are only 4 months behind”. Rather, waiting 4 months may set you back 1 year or longer because you will have to make up the search, clicking and visiting profile that the competition has built with Google.

The holiday season is quickly approaching. It's the end of September and there are already less than 90 shopping days left!

If you run a B2C e-commerce site you need to have your plans in place for your PPC, SEO and Online Marketing efforts. In a couple of weeks we'll have some fresh data from Google on their findings for Holiday Intentions for 2009. But it doesn't hurt to revisit some of the information that was presented this time last year:

(from the Google 2008 Holiday Intentions Survey)

...in thinking about the 2008 winter holiday season, here's what we know: Both research and shopping will start early this year:
31% of consumers plan to start holiday shopping and research before Halloween and a majority (57%) will start before Thanksgiving.1

Therefore, the shopping has already begun...is your marketing strategy ensuring that your brand is top of mind throughout the entire research-purchase process and making it into the consideration set early on?

Consumers will spend more time looking for deals: 43% of consumers say they plan to spend more time this year shopping around for gifts because of the current state of the economy.1

Consumers are taking the time to research the right purchase...Brands will need to focus on having a strong presence and clearly expressing their value proposition to guarantee inclusion in the consideration set.

There are 5 fewer shopping days this year, between Thanksgiving and Christmas, than last year: This is when the peak of conversions happen; therefore, retailers need to be wary of the tightened timeline and put strategies in place to lessen the crunch, by urging consumers to start purchasing before Thanksgiving!

1.OTX/ Google 2008 Holiday Shopping Intentions Survey, 9/16-9/24 2008, n=10,039



I'll post the 2009 Survey results as soon as they come out. Check back in about 10 days.

In the meantime if you think you need help getting your plans together or putting a plan in action give me a call.