Last Friday while I was dying from the plague Google announced they are rolling out personalized search to all users. Now everyone searching Google, logged in or out, will get back results that are personalized based on their past searches. Sounds kind of creepy but should actually result in a better user experience. It’s not like we were under the delusion that Google wasn’t keeping our search history before, right.

So to put this is perspective this is a MAJOR change in how Google works. Before you could do a search and be relatively confident that someone else would see pretty much the same results. We could also research our competition much easier because a simple search for our targeted keywords pointed them right out to us. Now we can’t be so sure anymore.

This change has created a wave of doom and gloomers who are taking to the streets in dirty rags, holding up “The End is Here” signs. If you have been in or around the SEO industry for any length of time you know the type. They appear every time anything changes, no matter how trivial.

The truth is that even though this is going to be a big change in user experience, its a non-change for SEO. No matter how much Google personalizes search results the basic elements that form the core of SEO will still be just as important as before. Solid unique content, strong site structure, domain authority, and linkbuilding.

Here are some excellent resources on this change and what it may mean to the SEO industry.

• HuoMah SEO Blog “The SEO guide to Google personalized search“
• Search Engine Land “Google now Personalizes Everyone’s Search Results” by Danny Sullivan
• Search Engine Land “Google’s Personalized Results: The “New Normal” That Deserves Extraordinary Attention” by Danny Sullivan
• Graywolf’s SEO Blog “Eric Schmidt, The Wall Street Journal and Personalized Search” by Michael Gray

SEO has never been, and never will be, rocket science but it is hard work. Put in the work, invest the time, deliver an excellent product, get out there and market yourself, and the rest will take care of itself.  For all the changes that personalized search bring, none of them change what we do as SEO professionals, web developers, or designers.  Stop crying and go back to work.