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…
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Update: I’d like to thank all of the Sphinners out there who helped put this article on the front page. A special thanks goes out to these two who helped get this article there. Thanks!
We all know that Google uses the Click Thru Rate (CTR) in their paid listings. Heck, you can even see the CTR of each of your own running ads in the Google Adwords dashboard.
So with that same technology, is it sensible to think they use the same technology to improve the relevancy of their organic results too?
Case + Point:
Google has a limited amount of factors that they can distill from their own personal analytics. With that set of data, they have to try and extract the most meaning possible.
If Google serves the same 10 results for “Wordpress Consulting” over and over then hypothetically each result should get 10% of the clicks. [click to continue…]
About six months ago, I released the Wordpress SEO Blueprint. It’s a short guide to simple, easy-to-implement techniques that will help get your Wordpress Blog indexed and rank for the keywords you’re going after.
The ebook has sold well and I’m very proud of the positive response from the readers of the Wordpress SEO Blueprint.
As my skills and focus have developed and changed, I realized that to up the ante in the Search Engine Optimization world, it’s important to let your secrets go eventually. That’s why this ebook is now available to everybody for free. [click to continue…]
So the new blog design is working toward a more professional, and content-forward design. But in the process, it seems to have lost some of the ease of use that the previous design had. It doesn’t seem as personal or interactive.
One way to fix that was to make it easy to get in contact with me without a bunch of hassle. A great widget came up in my search. It is called txtdrop. You can see an example of it running in my sidebar.
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My name is Brad and I love to help people drive traffic and make great blogs. Thanks for coming by. If you like what you see here then check me out on 
