Google has been offering customized search results for a while — when a Google user is logged in, their search results are tailored to their search habits over the past several months, giving them more relevant results each time. Apparently, Google thinks the benefits were so good that they’re extending the same service to users who aren’t logged into their Google accounts, too.
Google will be introducing a new cookie, separate from the one that monitors a Google account user’s search trends, that will collect online trends for the past 180 days and tailors search results according to the information collected. This means you’ll be getting more relevant results whenever you use Google, whether you’re logged in or not.
Of course, not everyone is happy with the changes. Although there will be a “view customizations” on the top right of the search results to disable this feature, privacy advocates are criticizing the move, saying that it doesn’t go far enough to prevent Google’s data collection efforts. Some people, they say, don’t log in on purpose specifically to avoid getting tracked by Google.
Google, on the other hand, simply says that they found the benefits of customized search results were too good not to be offered to everyone.
What do you think?
Via Trends Updates
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