3 Impacts Google’s Personalized Search Has for Marketers

It’s important to understand what the leading search engines are up to, so that you, as a marketer, can make informed decisions.  Google is a search engine that gets a lot of attention, and for good reason, they are by far the leader in serving search results.  In the YouTube video below, there are several points I think worth mentioning as it pertains to the implications personalized search has for marketers.

3 Impacts Google’s Personalized Search Has for Marketers

This video came out shortly after Google real-time search was announced last month.  It is a pretty basic video talking about Google’s personalized search.  As you watch it, be thinking about how it could impact your business, and then share your thoughts in the comment section below.  If you can’t see the video below, it’s found on YouTube here.

Some Thoughts I Had When Watching This Video

Personalized search has been around for some time, this video was released as a result of Google enabling it by default for all users.  Here are some of my initial thoughts as to it’s impact, and what marketers should be aware of.

• Consider the impact personalized search has on universal rankings.  That is, keyword tracking services and software cannot easily account for personalized search, so your true keyword rankings will be different than what they report.
• Related to the first point, Reporting on what works becomes blurred. Unless Google furnishes this information (which they may), knowing who came to your site via personalized search vs. universal search is a big unknown.
• Spoils Go To Existing High Placement. Those who already rank high for key phrases will more likely remain there as a result of being stored in personalized results databases (Google accounts, or cookies on your computer).  The flip side is, dethroning other sites in your market for established key phrases becomes more difficult.  More work for search engine optimizers.

What Say You? These are a just a few observations.  Certainly there are other implications (Pay Per Click anyone?).  Questions?  Other ideas?  Chime in below.