Five ranking factors of personalization in SEO

 Let me start by saying I know I have used the American Z rather than the English S but that is because if you search for ‘personalisation’ you find a bunch of stuff not related to search engine optimisation. I want to explain this term so you can go off and do your own due diligence on how this ranking factor works. For now, when searching, you will have to use they keyword term personalization. So, what is personalization in SEO (search engine optimisation)?

Personalization is a major factor in local search. It has been since around 2011 (ish). I remember co-hosting a webinar and we were searching for different keyword results. Depending on where the person was based (we were based around the world) the results were different. It caused quite a bit of confusion at the time but that was an example of the beginning of personalization in SEO.

The good news is, personalization in SEO is the main reason you no longer have to obsess about being number 1 in the search engines.

When you carry out a search for something the search results that appear may possibly be different for you than they would be for me, even if we were based in the same town. Why is that? Well firstly let’s go into what Google puts together to personalize results.

Personalization in SEO

 1. Country specific

Very obvious that if I am searching for a dentist and someone in Australia is searching for a dentist we need different results. The first aspect of personalization in SEO is people being shown different ranking results depending on the country they live in. This is why local search engine optimisation is so very important. 

2. Town and County specific

If I am in Bedfordshire and you are in Kensington our results will be different. Google will bring up a dentist to match the local area we live in even if we didn’t specifically ask for one from within our area. If we are looking for a dentist outside of our local area, let’s say we work in a different country or town, then actually adding the area brings up different results again. So dentist in Hampstead while I am sitting in my house in Bedfordshire will bring me the actual result I wanted rather than just dentist, which will bring me results from within Bedfordshire.

3. Online connections specific

Another ranking factor are your online connections.  If, for example, someone you follow has liked a local dentist in Hampstead then that will appear (along with the photo of the person you know sometimes) in the search results. I guess the aim of that is to give you an opportunity to check out the views of people you follow as they should be people you know, like and/or trust.

4. Device specific

The search results will vary depending on whether, at the time of searching, you are using a mobile phone, desktop PC or some other device you can search on. It is even recommended that you carry out local search engine optimisation for mobile phones… as if you haven’t got enough to do just running a business.

5. Internet history specific

Your own activity online or your personal internet history will also determine the results you see. This is one of the reasons if you are a local business obsessed with finding out if you are top of the search engines and you put in your main keyword chances are your own site will appear first in the results. That might not be because you are actually first in the search results for that keyword. That happens because Google recognise you are always searching for a “dentist in Hampstead” and so they bring up a site they know you have visited a lot – your own site!

The brands you like, the football teams you follow, the places you buy your clothes, the holiday destinations you search for, the films you watch or have liked online. All of this activity comes together to help determine what you personally will see when you search for a product or service and of course it will be different to what I see.

Understanding this ranking factor is important

Personalization is a simple local search engine optimisation ranking factor.  It should put your mind at ease if you are not number one in the search results. Yes, that is nice, but more important than that is how people are finding you and what they do when they get to your site. If you are not ranked well yet people keep getting in touch and spending money with your business isn’t that better than being ranked number one and having people who click the link to visit your site but never take action.

Know what is important to you when it comes to your web presence and then you will know where to put your attention and effort in helping your local business rank well. Of course if you are a member of my business blogging platform you don’t have to worry about this stuff because I carry out local search engine optimisation for you, leaving you to run your business, but it’s still good to know.