You might have noticed a change in the way that Google shows results recently, this is called ‘personalised search’. The idea behind this change is that Google wanted to give a more individual approach to show search engine results, and cater them to your own personal preference.

If you have already clicked on a site in the Google result’s this will more then likely show first. For instance if I type in ‘SEO Sheffield’ into Google, Optimize-Yorkshire will be the first results shown (Im hoping If I stare at it long enough I will actually be true). This is because I have clicked on the site before, and therefore Google shows results according my search preferences.

In terms of SEO, yes it can be a pain. Until recently the changes only seemed to show when logged into your Google account, now it seems to be rolled out into your search history.

So Is SEO DEAD?

Google often brings up different ways of doing things, and SEO’s then get an inventive and find a way around it. In my Opinion, this just make’s it vital to make sure that when a user see your results in Google, that you have the most eye catching title and description, that a user will want to click on. Then instead of being 4th or 5th when the user types in the keyword, your results will show first!!.

On a side note if you want to see how your site is performing without personalised search  there is the option to turn this off.

On the far right under the login on Google you will see ‘View Customizations’ just click on this and then click see results without improvements.