For All Internet Users: Google+ Changes Search

Google changed their search rankings in late December to give priority to "Social Search." This is related to the change in privacy settings, which now uses Google account information to personalize search results, if you have a Google account (it's possible to opt-out). Google and Bing have been personalizing search for several years, using cookies and tracking data based on what Web sites a user visits. The new changes bring in search results based on your Circles in Google+ and popular Google + Web pages.

This isn't all Google's fault. Google always has been a position to offer the most relevant search results across the Web for any search, until lately. With the rapid increase in Social Media, sites like Facebook and Twitter, which have their own user data, have started blocking Google from searching inside the Social Network of a user. Google can't determine who you interact with the most on your Social Networks. My industry sources tell me that Google tried to make arrangements with Facebook and Twitter, so Google could include search results based on a user's Social Network and connections, but the parties involved couldn't come to an agreement. I can't blame Facebook and Twitter for wanting to keep Google's hands off of user data.

Google+ with Social Search

Google's response was to launch Google+ and integrate Google user data with search results. Now when you search Google, your search results will appear with the usual listing of ranked Web sites, Google Ads, and now will also include Google+ Pages. To see this in action, you can see the screen shot I use in my updated Internet Marketing class slide on Social Search.

Is this anything to worry about? Well, it means more of your Google account data and Web browsing behavior is being used to produce relevant search results. If you don't have a Google account, then it's going to affect you much compared to how you used Google before.

For a business, this means more. If you don't have a Google+ Page for your business, it's important to create one now, use this link to the Google+ Business site to get started.