Crowdsourcing Test of Google SERPs Personalization

[engine]

I was reading a piece on the crowsourcing of a SERPs personalization and it's worth a read, even if the chosen keyword was relatively simplistic.

Crowdsourcing Test of SERPs Personalization [bbc.co.uk]

Before we spoke to Eli Pariser, we asked Click listeners to put his theory to the test by Googling the same word whatever their location, browser, platform, device or language. After much consideration in the office, we came up with the word 'platform'. It is a widely used word, largely politically neutral and with multiple meanings whether pertaining to computing, railway stations, oil drilling or outlandish shoes from the 1970s.

We suggested that listeners try the same search with the personalisation settings on or off and also logged in and out of Google. To share their results, we invited our volunteers to post screen grabs to our Facebook listeners group.

[walkman]

Tony Hirst believes the changes in rankings, however subtle, should not be understated and that they are evidence of personalisation. "If you have just a slight change in the ordering, particularly something that might bubble up from eighth to third or fourth on the screen where you're far more likely to see it, then just that simple change in ordering might have a huge influence on what you click on".

Not saying it should be illegal but definitely checked by the Govt (yes, I said it) since G doesn't care about anything else. There is also a huge financial intere$t here. Since personalization is apparently part of some algo it can very easily manipulated to show what Google benefits from. I'm no longer willing to give them benefit of the doubt, especially since they made personalization almost impossible to get out.