Previous query refinement rolled out in the US
Google personalised search was ramped up over a year ago and for anyone logged into Google, personalisation based on web and search history is the norm. If you want to opt out of personalisation you can either log out or turn off your history (This is turned on by default when you sign up for an account).
A more recent development has been query refinement based on your immediate search history. This has been rolled out on paid search where some of the ads reflect you previous query. A few months ago Google announced a similar approach to their organic search results, and we’re starting to see it over in the US. Note the ‘wording on the right’
I’ve yet to see this in the UK but based on the reports from my iCrossing colleagues in the US, this looks more like a rollout than a test. There’s no mechanism for turning it off either other than may be to turn off cookies (seems unlikely that Google is using IP to track users).
From a search marketing perspective, these developments pose a number of challenges not least to traditional metrics like search engine positions. There’s no point in looking at search engine positions when what you see could bear little correlations to what your customers see.
Understanding user behaviour for various task based search sessions will be fundamental to delivering the right traffic. Those sites that are narrow focussed will find it harder to appear in personalised or refined results. I.e. the travel site with just the search form a thin destination guide and a bunch of dodgy links is unlikely to create enough engagement to appear in personalisation.
The sites that are informative, covering the full spectrum of touch points will engage searches early in their session and is more likely to rank higher when they are ready to buy.
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