Lead Story

Personalized search and (not provided)

Ok sure, there was a TON of folks up in arms when Google stopped showing keyword referrers for those logged in. Which is certainly understandable. The fact remains, that it is what it is. Google can do as they please and we merely adapt and move along. Nothing to see here.

But when life hands you lemons, what do ya do? Make lemonade of course.

You see there is an upside to this. We now have a far more definative signal as far as how many of the users on your site are logged in and by extention, are seeing more personalized results. In talking with members and others we do know that it is generally between 10-20%. That's nothing to sneeze at for sites with 1mil visitors.

Use this to your advantage. Look at engagement metrics. Look at social engagement (for Google social search annotations). Understand behavioural metrics and personalization. See, understand and make the most of what Google gives you even when they take something away.

Talk of the Town

Search Geek Central

Search Patents

/end SOSG session