SEO Work
Personalize Search Results
How search engines personalize search results
Search engines understand that different results appeal to different people. That’s why they tailor their results for each user.
If you’ve ever searched for the same thing on multiple devices or browsers, you’ve probably seen the effects of this personalization. Results often show up in different positions depending on various factors.
It’s because of this personalization that if you’re doing SEO, you’re better off using a dedicated tool like Ahrefs’ Rank Tracker to track ranking positions. The reported positions in these tools are likely to be closer to the truth because they browse the web in a way that doesn’t give search engines much useful information for personalization.
How do search engines personalize results?
Google states that “information such as your location, past search history and search settings all help [us] to tailor your results to what is most useful and relevant for you in that moment.”
Let’s take a closer look at these three things.
- Location
- Language
- Search history