Fear of Personalized Search and SEO
There seems to be a general fear of how personalized search is going to affect how SEO works. What strikes me the most is the common unwillingness of SEO’s today to advance their abilities to cope with change. I am very intrigued by the sheer volume of posts that appear daily about every little bump in Google. As an SEO community we need to move beyond this type of thinking and adapt to the future of how search will work.
One thing is for sure, Google is not going to risk the user experience of Google Web Search. It is also blatantly clear that Personalized Search will only be offered to signed in users. How else can they appropriately track search behavior to encompass a proper result? Keep in mind that cookies are slowly going away, many users are turning off accepting cookies for privacy.
I see the field of SEO becoming a strong part of user experience enhancement. If we can help to make sure sites are highly accessible and are attractive to users we will perform well in the SERP’s. It is sad that there are still folks out there creating garbage sites just to drive revenue and not fill a particular need. We are going to see a huge shakeup of these results sooner rather than later. Which will open the doors for sites who deserve to be exposed moving up and taking the place.
One thing is for sure, Google is not going to risk the user experience of Google Web Search. It is also blatantly clear that Personalized Search will only be offered to signed in users. How else can they appropriately track search behavior to encompass a proper result? Keep in mind that cookies are slowly going away, many users are turning off accepting cookies for privacy.
I see the field of SEO becoming a strong part of user experience enhancement. If we can help to make sure sites are highly accessible and are attractive to users we will perform well in the SERP’s. It is sad that there are still folks out there creating garbage sites just to drive revenue and not fill a particular need. We are going to see a huge shakeup of these results sooner rather than later. Which will open the doors for sites who deserve to be exposed moving up and taking the place.
Labels: personalized search, seo
by Aaron Shear
2 Comments:
Aaron, just a few weeks ago I was one of those complainers.
However, I now believe that advancements, such as personalized search, are avenues to new and interesting challenges that, ultimately, keep the synapses firing.
People buy online because they trust a company, and trust is created and nurtured through the personal relationship with the customer; personalized search may reveal ways to improve the relationship between a website and a customer (by better serving the customer).
When it comes to freaking out about Google changes that could affect rankings, I believe that a first, second, or third ranking on page 1 of the organic search results creates visibility, but it does not create the trust that is a prerequisite to purchasing.
Life is happier when I don't freak out.
Yes, as an SEO, I have been concerned, well OK, freaking out because I assumed that personalized search will take over and the SEO will be forced out. Once the search engines produce personalized results that are customized for each user, then how can an SEO measure, let alone influence the outcome?
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