Search Engines use a technique called behavioral search to customize a results page based on the users previous search behavior. Behavioral targeting tracks the searches you’ve run and adjusts new search results to include listings the search engine assumes will interest you. Behavioral targeting doesn’t replace all of the results you’d normally get with a regular search, but it may throw in a few extra ones it thinks would be useful to you.
Have you ever noticed that sometimes your search results differ from another person’s search results – even when you both type the same query into the same search engine? This is a scenario that is becoming more and more common.
Search engines can individually customize search results based on the users:
- Recent search behavior
- Location
- Web History
- Demographic Information
- Community
The major search engines use more than just keyword rankings to determine the order of results. Remember, they’re trying to deliver the most relevant listings possible for every search. As a result, they’ve recently started taking this down to the individual-user level. With behavioral search and personalization, results revolve around users, not a single boiler plate algorithm.
Behavioral targeting particularly affects the paid results you see (that is ads or sponsored links that site owners have paid the search engine to display on results pages, based on keywords). For instance, if you run a search for [surfboards] followed by a search for [surfing], the search engine throws a few extra paid results for surf-related products at the top or sides of the page. (Note that this kind of advanced targeting costs advertisers a pretty penny; the surf sites might get charged double when a user clicks their behavioral-targeting-enhanced listing, compared to their standard pay-per-click rate.
IMPORTANT – The organic results (non-paid listings that display on results pages) also may show slightly different listings or listings in an altered order. Even if you’re not logged in, the data for your search history may influence your search engine results, compared to the search results you would see if you were a new user searching for [surfing]. Your previous search for [surfboards] influenced the search engine to assume [surfing] as in riding waves, rather than the actual accessory to ride those waves.
Thanks So Much For Reading!
~JAWS
