Number 1 in google – oh no your not!

What on earth is this about?  Is this the end of Google or the end of ethical SEO?

Personalised search has arrived whether you are logged into the big G or not.

Up until now all you’ve had to do is log out of and run your search.  Those a little more savvy have the excellent firefox plug-in from yoast that still give you a non-personalised search, meaning you should be able to see the listings for a search that everyone else will get.

Not any more!

Take a look at this screenshot -

That all looks ok, I’m at No. 1, but wait, what’s this -

So now we are seeing customised searches based on your previous search and you’ll see this whether ot not you are logged in.  All is not lost though, if you click the view customizations link and then “without these improvements” link you should actually see proper search listings.  Quite what this is about, or what google is up too only time will tell.  But now I can tell everyone I can get their site to position 1, all you have to do is find your site in the search, click it and then do the search again, and as if by magic, your site is no. 1.