The future of search engine rankings is changing right before our eyes. It used to be that when you typed your keyword into Google you could measure your ranking according to where you placed on the results page. Though you can still check your ranking that way, it might not be the most accurate measurement anymore.
In Google’s quest to offer more relevant search results, they are personalizing search so that the language you use in your search query is more closely related to the language on the web pages that show up in the results. These results are based on several factors including recent search engine queries, language, keyword phrase, search activity, browser and location. For example, if a site ranks well on a particular keyword phrase for someone living in Florida, it might rank differently for someone living in Alaska with that same keyword phase. It depends on what their search history is, where they are located, etc. This makes it a little more difficult for marketers to measure page rank as it will be different for different users.
What does this mean for marketers?
• You should no longer measure your success by where you rank in the search engines. You should use other measurements such as ROI, conversions and traffic to measure your results.
• Your site should be optimized with keyword rich content.
• Your website content should speak directly to your audience, offer relevant information and give your audience a reason to stay and return to your site.
What does this mean for users?
• Users will be offered more targeted and relevant results to their search queries.
The good news is the personalization of search will offer businesses a more targeted visitor to their site which in turn could lead to a higher conversion rate and ultimately increase your ROI.
So if I were you, I would begin measuring my overall site traffic, conversions and ROI and let measuring my site rankings be a thing of the past.
For more information on Google’s Search Personalization check out these articles:
The Future of Google’s Search Personalization
Google Awarded Patent for Language Personalization
Great and good post. I’ve learned a lot from your blog and it really help me so far.
[...] katrinagibson wrote an interesting post today onGoogle personalizing search « Writing for New MediaHere’s a quick excerptThe future of search engine rankings is changing right before our eyes. It used to be that when you typed your keyword into Google you could measure your ranking according to where you placed on the results page. … [...]
I was reading about this very thing the other day in articles by both Bruce Clay and Matt Cutts. I find it very interesting, but I have to confess I really am not fond of it; not so much as a web developer but as a someone who uses Google, I think it is a bit to presumptuous on their part. But it really does make you have to concentrate on really good content!
[...] and changes their algorithm. If you haven’t yet heard (and I hope you have since this is my second posting on the subject), Google has been behind the scenes modifying their search algorithm to incorporate [...]