How to Turn Off Google Personalized Search and Discover Your True Rankings

There is a pretty prevalent problem in Search Engine Optimization that deserves some serious attention.  And it’s causing us all to think that our own sites are ranking a LOT higher then they actually are.

It’s called Google Personalized Search.  Here’s a bit about it:

Google has released a new version of Google Personalized Search, this time in a format intended to constantly monitor what people select from search results and shape future queries based on their choices.

The new service is linked to the My Search History feature that Google unveiled last April (see our Google My Search History Personalizes the Web for more on the feature). Google Personalized Search uses My Search History data to refine your results based on your searching habits.

-From SearchEngineWatch

There is nothing wrong with Google Personalized Search by itself.  The problem arises when we check out rankings for different keywords.

I’ll show you an example of what can happen…

With Google Personalized Search On (Which is default)  When I search for “brad spencer” on Google just like usual, I get these results:

Oh hey, great!  It says I’m number one.  Oh yeah, and it also notes that I’ve clicked on my own site 47 times since October.  Well, that’s a little embarrasing and vain… but let’s move on.  

Now, with Google Personalized Search Off:I search for “brad spencer” and…. 

Oh, crap.  Now without Google Personalized Search off I’m showing up at 3rd position.  Well now that darn SEO that showed me how I was #1 is in big, big trouble.

 

The reasons why this can be really, really bad for you are pretty much limitless, but I’ll give you three because my coffee is getting cold and I’m sure you are ready to get to the way to fix the problem anyway (which comes next).

 

Reasons Why Google Personalized Search is Really Scary:

1.  It’s going to make you think you are doing better then you are, and might cause you to rest on your laurels

2.  A lot of webmasters out there are convinced that their site (which they’ve visited 455 times this week) ranks #1 for “Car Loans” and they just can’t explain why they get 15 hits per day.

3.   Google Personalized Search means that when people go to one website a bunch of times, they are going to start seeing it in the Search Results more often.  If your potential clients are clicking on your competitors link over and over, then it’s going to make it technically more difficult for you to get higher in the Search Engine results pages then the competitor because your potential traffic has Google Personalized Search running.  And this means that you had better get to the top of the list fast, otherwise it’s going to be hard to get there later.

How to Turn Off Google Personalized Search:

Go to this website and download the toolbar.  Easy as pi. I mean pie.

Other Fun Stuff to Do Now That You’ve Read This Far:

1.  Share your scary stories about how much your perceived rankings dropped after turning off Google Personalized Search in the comments section below.

2.  Read this article which is somewhat related to what we’ve been talking about here: Does Google Factor CTR into their Organic Listings? 

3.  Play in the rain and jump in puddles.

The End!