Google has been doing what is called Google Personalization for years now and they have announced a big change this week including going Worldwide with Google Personalization so I think we need to talk about this, and the way it affects SEO.

I do not want to publish an article here but rather have an open thread conversation so that the people who are interested in knowing about it can read different opinions and thoughts to improve their website and how it comes up in the search engines because believe me, I am not a genius by no means!

I will start with these important facts:

1.

Q. Does Google Personalization affect how the search results that you see when you search for a particular term, mainly for your own website(s) affect your own results?

A. Absolutely! The fact is that if you search for your own website and visit it many times it will come up higher in your search results and will not have the same affect for others.

2.

Q. Does Google Personalization affect future SEO for Google targets?

A. You bet it does! In fact, if you don't have a clear understanding of how the new Google Personalization works, top ranked sites, maybe your own will fall in ranks and allow lower ranks to take you over in search results.

3. Do Meta Keywords and Meta Descriptions have less or no relevancy at all when targeting specific search terms?

Q. Well it was true for the last several years and I've even preached in the past years here to focus on content and text on certain pages because it was true but that has changed! The Illusion that Google gave us SEO companies have suddenly been changed and now the Meta makeup will play a very important role in battling the new Google Personalization.

A. There is much to be talked about here and hopefully we can have a great discussion about this.

4.

Q. Do other search engines such as Bing, Yahoo and others use such a method?

A. No! In fact, SEO people and webmasters are going to be focusing a lot more on the search engines to ensure that their site is seen in the engines because trust me, not everyone uses Google!

I do this stuff for a living but nobody will find threads by me promoting that I do. DevHunters is intended to be an open source webmaster forum for people to share, teach and learn from each other and I am not an advertising spammer but I would totally look in to this if you want to be in Google's top terms!

Anyone else have any thoughts or questions?

I've heard of it, but won't willingly participate - to see what others "in the know" have to say, just read - Don't Get Sucked In

Of course, many of us know who Danny Sullivan is of Search Engine Land and here's what he say's about it

Originally Posted by shortcircuit

I've heard of it, but won't willingly participate - to see what others "in the know" have to say, just read - Don't Get Sucked In

Of course, many of us know who Danny Sullivan is of Search Engine Land and here's what he say's about it

A very excellent point and well taken, and that is a good read for people, but opinions fly and so do I.... ha ha !

But,

You may want the search enabled for different reasons, like local search websites and other goodies like performing SEO from a specific PC.

For some though, that is a very good thing to do in eliminating the search.

Great post!