In Rank Tracker, you can create as many custom locations as you want to track rankings for. If you have a local business with a physical address, you've got to identify your target locations and start tracking each of them. THE SOLUTION: The first step for understanding these Google personalized results, is to set your target locations and use your rank checking tool to track rankings in each one separately. With location changing the SERPs so much, rank tracking doesn't get any less useful - but it does get harder. How do assess results with crucial limited personalization? THE PROBLEM FOR SEO: As SERPs differ for searchers depending on their location, accurate rank tracking becomes a challenge.
![history of google search engine history of google search engine](https://i1.wp.com/bdtechtalks.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/7946386402_a4e1d9e7b3_k.jpg)
Searchers within the same city, standing just a few miles away from each other, will often see different results for the same search term, especially in the local pack. HOW IT WORKS: Physical businesses and places closest to the searcher are displayed in the local pack and higher up in the organic results.įor the most part, location data affects searches that imply that the user is looking for a physical place-thus a major factor for local businesses. This may not be as precise, but it'll still give Google grounds to tailor search results to your location. If you are not connected to Google via a mobile device, it will figure out where you are from your IP address. If you have location tracking turned on your mobile device, go on and prepare to be surprised. What may be more surprising is the preciseness and diligence that Google tracks this with.
![history of google search engine history of google search engine](http://www.google.com/intl/en/homepage/images/hero-dhp-ie6.jpg)
It shouldn't come as a surprise that Google knows the searcher's location and uses it in a big part of the searches we make. The red dots are places Google knows I've visited over the past few months.
![history of google search engine history of google search engine](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/V47hppXbrBjC3UXU6lX736CT3h8=/1400x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/12795645/VRG_ILLO_2927_005.jpg)
What are the factors that affect personalization? 1. Back in 2011, a small experiment showed that over 50% of Google results were personalize search - with that number having likely gone up since. Although widely debated, the purpose of personalized search is to increase the relevance of the results for the particular user.īoth Google and Bing (and hence Yahoo, too) are personalizing their search results, but Google seems to be doing it for a larger share of searches. Personalized search results are the results a user sees in a search engine that aren't just based on the traditional ranking factors (such as the relevance of the web pages to the search term or their authority), but also on the information that the search engine has about the user at the given time, such as their location, search history, demographics, or interests. But before we roll, let's figure out what exactly personalized search is. In this post, I'll look at the different ways Google personalizes search results, their impact on SEO, and tips to ensure that personalization doesn't falsify your ranking data. Could you be making the wrong decisions based on the wrong data? The concept of accuracy itself has become somewhat vague: if there are as many SERP variations as there are locations, which one should you consider "accurate"?Įven worse: with so many search customization factors involved, you may not be aware that your ranking data is skewed, influenced by some kind of personalization algorithm you didn't take into account. Tracking ranking at Google accurately - one of the main SEO KPIs - has become a challenge as location, previous searches, and browser history now affect the results that users get. As Google's search results grow increasingly personalized, SEO experts are growing increasingly indignant.