Members of the SEO community are beginning to complain about Google’s recent announcement that they’re expanding personalized search so it works whether or not the user is logged in. This change to personalized search means SEO as we know it is completely destroyed. Google has managed to single-handedly ruin our industry with this one simple change. All of the research and strategies that have been effective for years will no longer work, and everyone who calls themselves an SEO should start looking for work in another industry, right?
For some reason, a lot of SEOs are drama queens who freak out every time Google decides to alter their search engine. This change to personalized search is definitely something to look into, but it’s not going to be the game changer many are making it out to be.
While some of the rankings in searches will be altered from user to user, the majority of results are still going to show up in relatively the same place. All you need to do is use the personalized search Google has for those who are logged in to see how results will be affected when the change takes place. After using personalized search for a while, it’s easy to see how Google alters results, and it isn’t all that much, especially when it’s a search the user hasn’t performed before.
This change to Google is more annoying to SEOs than detrimental. It’s going to be more of a hassle now to check baseline rankings for keywords, but it isn’t that big of deal. It’s also going to be annoying when dealing with the customers who don’t realize personalized search is turned on in their browser. Now that personalized search will be turned on in all browsers by default, SEOs can expect more clients to call in complaining about ranks, because the rankings on their computers have been messed up by them researching the competition.
From an SEO standpoint, no one should be too concerned with the changes that are coming out of Google right now. If you’re building strong sites, they’ll continue to show up in the SERPs. While SEOs are drama queens, they also have a great ability to adapt to whatever search engines throw at them. SEO isn’t going anywhere.
Tags: personalized search, SEO, seo complaints
