As you’re starting to see Google is rolling out a major change today: more personalization and greater integration of Google+ into search results. Here are some of the explanatory articles:
- Search, plus your world (Google Blog)
- Google’s Results Get More Personal With “Search Plus Your World” (Search Engine Land)
- Google’s search revamp is all about social (Fortune)
- Google search gets even more personal (CNET)
It’s too soon for me to have anything more than an incomplete view of all this.
How will it affect local/SEO? Results will be far more subjective and personalized than in the past. What do you think?
January 10th, 2012 at 8:15 pm
This could be a big step for local search and online reputation. If you think about it, it is great for local companies because, if someone is searching for their service they will pop up on the listings if the person searching is close to the business. Especially, if someone in the searchers circle has +1 that company. On the other hand this ups the stakes for managing online reputation. If a someone searches for a service and a business is listed but, someone in the searchers circle has written a negative review then that could affect the decision that the searcher makes.
January 10th, 2012 at 9:10 pm
Yes . . . it would seem to raise the importance of the +1 button for everyone from an SEO standpoint.
January 11th, 2012 at 6:18 am
I consider myself quite tech savvy, but this video did nothing but confuse me.
It seems that Google have tried to jump well ahead of their users here. Its really hard work educating every day users about what the Google +1 button is, now trying to get these same people to turn search into a truly social experience is going to be downright impossible.
It feels like they have created something here that will be only used by the true geeks of the world (think Robert Scoble). Instead of confusing everyday people, they should instead really take the time to hand-hold their vast consumer base and teach them the basics of what is Google+
Thats my $0.02
January 11th, 2012 at 3:03 pm
I haven’t yet had an opportunity to use it. But it seems . . . excessive to me.
January 11th, 2012 at 3:04 pm
Also the use of Google+ w/o Twitter, Facebook and others is unfortunate and bound to create a backlash of sorts.
January 11th, 2012 at 7:24 pm
Haven’t seen it in practice, but think it’s just going to make local SEO much harder. Personally, I don’t like the idea of my past browsing habits influencing my current searches. I like the idea of a polished algorithm delivering consistent results for everyone every time. I may change my mind later as I begin to understand it better, but right now I think it sucks. I could care less what my friends are searching for, I don’t want their likes or dislikes affecting my results. This might backfire and give Bing more market share. Search engines work because they are predictable.
January 11th, 2012 at 7:35 pm
I’m only starting to use it. You can toggle back and forth between personal and all. I agree the most part I don’t really care about my friends queries. However there are times when that will filter some of the noise you’d get in conventional search results.
January 12th, 2012 at 11:24 pm
I believe that I’m going to need to start recommending to clients that they replace their Facebook widget on thier website with a Google widget (or at least use both). I’ve really noticed that sites the people in my circles in G+ have shared or +1′ed are showing at the top of my results. This really shows how important it is to get yourself and your business into others circles on G+. Gone are the days when I can talk to a client and have them do a search for their keywords to show how they are showing up on Google. Now everyone’s results will be unique.
January 12th, 2012 at 11:28 pm
I would now seem to be mandatory.
January 13th, 2012 at 7:41 pm
[...] issues revolve more around user trust than antitrust. The full impact of the change has yet to be felt in Local BUT a number of other recent efforts by Google to cross promote their own properties have started [...]
January 14th, 2012 at 2:22 pm
[...] issues revolve more around user trust than antitrust. The full impact of the change has yet to be felt in Local BUT a number of other recent efforts by Google to cross promote their own properties have started [...]