In fact, it’s even more appropriate because that’s what we ALL do when it comes to SEO.

Perhaps you’ve heard the term “Googlebate”? We’ve all done it… Come on you can admit it, we’re all friends here right? Wink, wink…

For those of you who don’t know, “Googlebating” is when we type our own name into Google to see how many pages Google returns that shows our name.

For example, look at the search term of SEO Google guy, Mr. Matt Cutts.

“Google-bating” for some people it’s become like a competitive sport! It’s even more so when it comes to SEO because when it comes to making money online via SEO, it comes down to traffic. And you get the most traffic by being #1.

The Urban Dictionary gives this definition of “Mental Masturbation” – “The act of engaging in useless yet intellectually stimulating conversation, usually as an excuse to avoid taking constructive action….”

And here’s where a lot of webmasters AND professional SEO’s get into trouble.  Because they waste time day after day checking their stats to see if their keywords have moved up or down.

Now on the surface I get that, but the reality is that you’re just stroking your ego. If you’re keywords are up, you’re happy for the day. If they’re down, you’re mood changes and it ruins your whole day.

But the fact is that NO lasting search engine result is going to happen on a day to day basis. Sure we’ve all seen cases where somebody (maybe even you) submitted a video to YouTube and your ranking (for the video…) went to # 1 for a day or two. But then after 3 or 4 days, the listing vanished only to resurface two weeks later at #15, or #30 or #163.

You see the point….

Sure you can concentrate on trying to make some “quick money” by being #1 for 24 hours, but is that a smart long term business strategy? If it is, let me know because I haven’t seen it work for any of the markets I’m in.

Guys don’t waste your time checking your search engine rankings daily (or even several times a day  – like I’ve seen some people do), you’re just wasting time on an activity that is not going to make you more money.

Yes, it’s true, Google is so screwed up right now that you could put up a page or video and using a combination of tricks, get that new link indexed and ranking with in as little as 20 minutes or less. But it’s a temporary ranking that in all likelihood will change within a day or so.

So instead of checking all the time to see how you’ve “done”, instead spend that time creating new content, getting new back-links, making your product better, or a hundred and one other things that will make you money.

Don’t be a slave to your rankings. They will change, so check them 3 times a week at most and you’ll find that you’re a lot more centered, have a much better over all perspective on what’s important and your over all SEO strategy.

Oh, and since we’re talking about Sammy Hagar…..  Here’s a shout out to my good friend and SEO master Jerry West!

Google has extended its personalized search functionality to users who are not even signed in.

This goes for Google users around the world, in over 40 languages. What this means is that when you search with Google, it will provide results that are aimed at higher relevancy to the individual user, as opposed to relevancy for the average person.

“For example, since I always search for [recipes] and often click on results from epicurious.com, Google might rank epicurious.com higher on the results page the next time I look for recipes,” Google explains in a blog post on the subject. “Other times, when I’m looking for news about Cornell University’s sports teams, I search for [big red]. Because I frequently click on www.cornellbigred.com, Google might show me this result first, instead of the Big Red soda company or others.”

What Does This Mean for Natural SEO?

Naturally, when Google announces any significant changes to the way users get their search results, the search engine optimization community must take notice, and must consider what said changes mean for them. If people start getting more results that are specifically tailored to their own tastes, it could be harder for businsses to reach those people through traditional SEO tactics.

That’s one way of looking at it. Another way is this: Google always makes changes, but there are always ways to adapt.

“Honestly, if this makes Google more relevant for their searchers – all power to them,” comments Barry Schwartz of RustyBrick, which offers SEO services. “I am not going to say I know what is better for the average searcher. They can quickly figure this out after days and decide to keep it, turn it down, or off completely. SEOs will adapt, like they always do – we are a strong and smart bunch – I am not worried.”

My guess is that all of the same best practices for search engine optimization will apply. What you may have to pay greater focus to is your target audience.

On the other hand, personalized search could play to the strengths of the horizontal content approach. Rich Ord, CEO of iEntry Network and Publisher of WebProNews has an interesting take on the matter. “There is going to be the same number of searches and the same number of clicks to content,” he says. “So basically, personalization in search will just be dividing up the traffic pie more.”

“This could make people think more about the long tail instead of just focusing on their top key words that they would like to rank for,” he adds. “It could also make people less reliant on organic search results for their traffic and in turn increase their use of Adwords.”

Could personalized search directly contribute to an increase in revenue for Google itself? You bet!

The feature has been available to Google users who have accounts, are signed in, and have their web history enabled (on Google) for a while. Now it appears to just be the standard way of delivering search results to everybody.

“This addition enables us to customize search results for you based upon 180 days of search activity linked to an anonymous cookie in your browser,” Google says. “It’s completely separate from your Google Account and Web History (which are only available to signed-in users). You’ll know when we customize results because a ‘View customizations’ link will appear on the top right of the search results page. Clicking the link will let you see how we’ve customized your results and also let you turn off this type of customization.”

If you’re worried about privacy, settle down, because Google lets you turn personalized search off altogether. For signed-in users, all you have to do is remove web history from your Google account. For signed out users, click “web history” in the top right corner of a search results page, then click “disable customizations.” You can also just clear your browser’s cookies.

On a related note, Google is also rolling out the inclusion of real-time search results on regular search results pages for some queries. These results draw from Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and numerous other sources.

This means you have yet another opportunity for visibility, but it also presents a new challenge, as with any other universal search element, it may push organic listings down on the page. Are you glad to finally see some real-time search make its way to Google?

About the Author:
Chris Crum has been a part of the WebProNews team and the iEntry Network of B2B Publications since 2003. Twitter: @CCrum237