Personalized Search Now Default

SEO and Privacy forever changed

[incrediBILL]

Google Blog [googleblog.blogspot.com]

Today we're helping people get better search results by extending Personalized Search to signed-out users worldwide

That's a staggering statement meaning that every computer accessing Google is now being personalized, signed in or not, so any desktop, laptop or kiosk will start tracking everything everyone does and you won't be able to access the same search results from any two machines.

The possible impact to all is staggering.

[Future]

Sounds like, not really sensible, but there can be something more hidden ?
Google introduce things, they demolist
**(yes in terms of google it is demolist and not demolish, which means out of list in SERPs ;))

UNSURE, what next Google is upto demolist (as per past 9+ experience, a fall of huge empires again)

[edited by: Future at 9:51 pm (utc) on Dec. 6, 2009]

[Leosghost]

Maybe Google ads will disappear completely from the Google search pages on my computer? :} If the algo works correctly, they should disappear, shouldn't they. :

@fargo1999 ..no ..unless Brett has blocked off Gorgbot again ..you would probably just raise this thread and your own post to number one on your search ..and Gorg would have cookie that with just a tiny bit of data mining would let them know who fargo1999 was ..and especially what (s)he had been doing on the net since quite some time ..

And you'd have to trust them never to use that info against you ..nor ever let anyone else use it ..so lets all hope that you always looked at pages that the government of the day ( in the future ) would approve of ..

[subway]

Remember everybody, the motivation behind absolutely everything Google does (without exception) is to get more people clicking more ads – or of course clicking local listings with a view to charging for those listings in the not too distant future - watch this space.

This is just a very clever way to get AdWords displaying for non commercial search terms. I.e. one minute you’re searching for Adidas Gazelles, the next you’re wondering how long badgers hibernate for over winter but the shoe ads are still displaying.

I recall noticing this happening a short while back and thinking, “hey that’s a glitch, no actually it’s not, that’s very clever!”.

Never did manage to get the shoes I was looking for in my size though.

[daniel142005]

I was never saying privacy is a bad thing, but something like Google remembering what you have searched for isn't really a big deal. I see it like this: If you have a good friend (or husband/wife/girlfriend/etc.) then he/she most likely knows a good bit about you and visa-versa. If they didn't, then they could be telling you all kinda of crap that you could care less about. Every now and then thats ok, but are you really going to be around someone that is always telling you stuff thats completely irrelevant to you or the conversation? Google has to get to know you to better serve you and since they are getting to know so many people it could get messy, especially if they were hacked or if the information was released. Of course, I don't think I have ever heard of Google getting hacked. Then again... Google may keep it that way on purpose.

Anyway, other than the possibility of a leak, the only other real threat is the government. Like you said though, the government has big guns, and honestly if they wanted more information on you then they would have ways of getting it, whether legally or illegally. Who knows, your best friend could be an undercover op just gathering intel on you... (ok, thats out there, but just making a point)

I just don't see the problem with it unless you are doing something illegal or something you don't want your friends to know about. Then again, if its that important to you there is always encryption, proxies, etc..

Then again, I've grown up with myspace/facebook/etc. so maybe I'm just used to no privacy... lol

[anallawalla]

Quoting Leosghost:

note if you are running any browser and have it tweaked to use the google search beta ( with column on the left ) then you will not see the "web history" link at top right and will need to manually go into your cookie store and remove the all google cookies ..

Thank you for pointing this out as I was testing the new interface and not seeing it.

[edited by: anallawalla at 10:52 pm (utc) on Dec. 6, 2009]

[dstiles]

In Paranoid Mode:

I have a fixed IP. Regardless of whether I turn cookies on or off, google can still determine who I am (within one of two people on this IP) and what I search for.

They have always been able to do that.

I do NOT want them to screw up my searches through that information by sending me what THEY think I want (which I usually only want for a day or two; my wife usually holds on to sites for years and gets to them via the address bar, not via SEs). Nor do I want them attempting to push "targetted" adverts at me (which I almost never click on).

Ok, if an ad really offends me I might click on it to cost the guy money, then close the tab before the site comes up.

It occurs to me that if the general public get wind of this "here's more of what you asked for" syndrome then a lot of sx sites are going to lose a lot of visitors! :)

[weeks]

First Google, then the world! Pretty soon, Netflix will be telling me what movies I might like to watch. (Oops--come to think of it, they already do.

Exactly. 17 pages, and signor_john finally sums it up perfectly.

[Leosghost]

Then again, I've grown up with myspace/facebook/etc. so maybe I'm just used to no privacy... lol

colour me unsurprised ..they intended you to feel that way ..you.. and the rest of your generation ..unlol

[mcskoufis]

Another paranoid one is to search for keywords you don't rank without clicking any result and then search for "bing" and click on bing.com...

Even just closing the browser tab and re-initiating google.com homepage after clearing cookies.

That should definitely trigger a change of rankings faster.. SEO becomes a different game nowadays...

[Freedom]

The trend towards aggressive marketing and predatory capitalism continues. I spend half my waking day telling salespeople "NO" - in one form or another. Targeted search leads to more targeted marketing.

This is a change that will not go away. The mass will not rise up and protest. Google will not shrink away. Change comes to every industry, many times, sooner or later. That's why we don't have many telegraph operators, railroad porters or typewriter repairmen.

As much as it makes me sick too, we have to roll and adapt with this change or die.

If I didn't know better, I'd say the National Security Agency encouraged this. Sooner or later, we'll see "personalized search history" come up in someone's trial. It'll probably be for one of those new offenses the government created with clever wording like: "Domestic Extremist" = a protestor. Or, "Verbal Terrorist" - a loud protestor.