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For those who were under the impression that personalization in Google Search was now a strong ranking signal, Google’s Danny Sullivan has confirmed once again that this is, in fact, not the case.
Sullivan, who is Google’s Public Search Liason, confirmed on Twitter yesterday that personalization in Google Search continues to be an “extremely light” ranking signal, and using it for ranking purposes is “fairly rare.”
Here’s Sullivan’s full statement:
“It’s extremely light, actually fairly rare, when it comes to results themselves actually having a ranking change.”
While this isn’t exactly breaking news, as Sullivan had previously confirmed this on Twitter back in 2018, the subject was raised again this week by SEO Glen Gabe.
@dannysullivan Hi Danny. Hey, does this still apply? Just wondering if personalization is still light (outside of location/language)? I feel like it’s the same, but just checking in. 🙂 Thx for any info you can provide: https://t.co/V8m3leAESy — Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) August 19, 2021
What this means is, that previous searches, search history, along with your likes, dislikes, and demographics are not being heavily used to improve search results. So, it is unlikely that you will notice personalization affecting your Google Search rankings.
It’s important to note that this is separate from geo/location personalization, which is often used.
So, there you have it. Three years later and Google is still treating personalization as an “extremely light” ranking signal. Were you under the impression that this had changed or were you confident that things had remained the same?
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