Every search engine that you use wants you to use it exclusively, and every search engine wants to give you the most relevant information possible for the search term you have. Typically, Google has been using SEO, which stands for search engine optimization, to decide which pages are at the top of the search. SEO is a complicated algorithm that ranks pages based on keywords, how they are used, and other complicated factors. SEO is difficult to learn, so people who are really serious about getting a good ranking in their search results often hire a professional to help them design their website and content.
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Things may all be changing, because search engines are testing out personalized searches. Google stores your computer’s web searches for 18 months, and is considering using this information to make personalized search results for you. This would mean that if you sit down at your family computer and search for something like “birthday giftsâ€, you may get different search results based on some of your previous searches (and web page selection). So if your children have been searching on their favorite sites, a personalized web search may put toy stores closer to the top to help you find that birthday present. This means that your top search result and someone else’s search result is not going to be the same.Â
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The majority of search engines, including Google, are looking at personalized web searches, which means that SEO may die a slow death. It could be years and years before this type of searching becomes mainstream, but when it does, small business owners could either be shouting in joy because they won’t have to find someone who knows SEO to write their content, or they could be crying in frustration because they will have to find a way to cater to the tastes of everyone, not just to the SEO algorithm.Â
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What do you think will happen with personalized searches? Will it be a disaster for your website or could it help you out?Â
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