Personalization and Localization of Search Results

Search results are now being customized to your personal search history AND the current IP address you are connected to. You may already notice a link at the top of your Google search results pages titled 'View Customizations'. If you are seeing that link, then your results have been personalized for you based on this new personalization and localization criteria.

Click here to see the Google Help Topic.

Based on your recent search activity and your geographic location (via the current IP you are connected through) your results may be diffferent than another user searching with the same keyword phrase. From a web marketing standpoint, this changes everything. While it delivers better search results for the user, it creates a challenge for the website optimization process. The traditional Rankings Report will be less insightful as results will be different for different users.

'Persona'-ization will now be your optimization goal. Make your site more personalized for the customer you are seeking. These changes by the search engines will create less overall traffic to a website, but the traffic that does find you would be more targeted and qualified. This should give you higher conversion rates.

Success will now be measured by traffic, conversions and overall ROI. This actually makes more business sense than just seeing your ranking for a particular keyword and inferring that you are doing good. Personalize the website for the customer base you are targeting and then work on your conversion rates.