Google Query Contamination.... Are you seeing this??

[EGOL]

I have been searching on Google.com with FireFox this morning.

I searched for a state name....  like "georgia".

Then I search for a product... like "guitars".

For the Guitars query the first page of the SERPs include some music stores in georgia.

So, Google is contaminating your search results with information from your most recent query.

Are you seeing this too?   Has Google been doing this for a long time?  Or, I am going crazy?

[EGOL]

Thanks!  That's a new variant - and I didn't know that it works on Safari.

[EGOL]

I agree, it stinks up my SERPs.  I don't want my queries blended.

[Mcarle]

I just ran a test on this last night:

I used two ipads with safari both in the same room using the same wireless network.

1. Searched for Miami coffeehouses, Miami bookstores, Miami hotels & such, THEN I searched for "steakhouse"

2.  Searched for Chicago coffeehouses, Chicago bookstores, Chicago hotels & such, THEN I searched for "steakhouse"

On the "Steakhouse" search the first matched with a local SF steakhouse, then the next TWO were for Chicago & Miami steakhouses, then the places was our local city of Oakland, & the last few results also matched for national steakhouse chains...

So yes, it looks like Google is in fact adapting the SERPS to your personal search strings....

[Alex-Harford]

Interesting, but like you, I hope they don't make something like this permanent. Increasingly we're being treated like we're stupid and can't do anything for ourselves.

Here in the UK there's no sign of it. I've tried UK specific county names as well as the Georgia then guitars combo originally mentioned, in Chrome and Firefox.

I get all sorts of strange adverts that don't fit my interests or searches at all - for the last two or three weeks I've been getting a Muslim dating website in Ad placements on my work and home PC - both have different Google accounts. I haven't searched for religious terms, dating, or anything at all I can think of that would be related.

[KTaylor]

This has happened to me recently as well. However for me it was for seemingly more disparate queries related to coupons. I don't remember the specific merchants but I had searched for something like 'finish line coupons' and subsequently searched for 'target coupons' and was still seeing ads for finishline coupons on the SERP for the latter query. Clearly, they have some work to do on this.

[EGOL]

I wonder if some of the chaise lounge ads might have been triggered by remarketing cookies?

[EGOL]

I saw "kayak" in your query and thought that you might know about this type of ducky....

http://www.komar.org/faq/travel/vacation/green-river-rafting/rafting-day-4/2009_06_05_6963-green-river-rafting.jpg

[Mcarle]

Google has been doing this with adverts for a while, I have been in the same room with a person, on the same "page" & seen totally different ads for each of us... (I guess he never searched for high healed shoes)

Another thing I have noticed the MORE I search for a term the MORE it pops up in ads...

If I search once for red chair then no biggie, but when I spent an entire evening searching for a chaise lounge....I got ads for that damned chaise lounge for weeks....

SERPS have been different by location for years now.

I don't doubt at all that SERPS are going to be even more customized by what you "search for"

[JustDucky]

Egol - I am a layman when it comes to SEO.   I began noticing strange results around 3 weeks ago.  I was not observant enough to begin to define the issue and did not think to run your experiment.  I believe my results began to change (or changed more frequently) around the time of the March 23, algo update.  Hope this helps.

[EGOL]

ahhh.... now I might understand where "ducky" comes from! 

[BobLongman]

Yes, this just happened to me, too.  I don't know how long they keep them, though; maybe find out by trying the same thing later in the day, and a day, a week, a month later, and finding where it ends, or how quickly it changes from your own change of location (like, say, going from Long Island to Philly in a day).

[EGOL]

Thanks!  I didn't know that!

[EGOL]

Thanks!  I am seeing this with my location turned on or turned off.  However, we only see this in the FireFox browser.  We tried Chrome and IE... and Safari on phone but did not see this.

What do you say when a customer calls and says no two people can get the same SERP to appear?

I think that is much more true than it was a few years ago.  And, as time goes by few and few people are seeing the same SERPs.

[Mcarle]

In relation to google messing with search queries it goes into androids maps as well.

I have searched google maps for addresses and locations printed out the page & taken a drive...

Luckily for me the printed google map had a wrong turn, getting me a bit lost.

I then used my android phone to try to get better directions, before I could even get the 2nd number in the address the entire address was loaded in for me...

(I'm pretty sure Google is keeping search strings we are using and applying them to alternate uses)

[cozyweb]

Did you check to see if you have a location set in Google?

It seems to make a difference in SERPs. Also check to see if you are signed into any Google products such as Gmail or Webmaster. All of them give Google permission to save your search results and use that data.

My wife just did a local search and a client was #2. She sent me the Google search link via Skype and my SERP was totally different!

She was  only logged into SKYPE while I was logged into SKYPE and Webmaster. I logged out of Webmaster and got a different SERP but still not the same one on her screen. Then I logged out of SKYPE but still could not replicate her SERP.

Maybe I should post that question in Moz: What do you say when a customer calls and says no two people can get the same SERP to appear?

I searched "georgia" then "guitar" and got no local results. Then I changed my location to Atlanta, GA and still didn't get local results!

I am located near Fort Myers, Florida and using Safari

[EGOL]

Thanks!  Glad you don't think that I am crazy because some people do. 

[EGOL]

Thank you!   I knew that google would geotarget SERPs for my physical location, but this is the first time that I have seen them geotarget based upon search history.

IMO this stinks up the SERPs.  If I wanted guitar stores in georgia I would have used that for my query.

[anthonydnelson]

I am not currently seeing this. I don't think you're crazy though, as I can definitely see google testing things like this out.

I failed to reproduce your results, but I tried a combination of searches like this:

Q1) Oregon  Q2) Guitars

Q1) Portland Oregon  Q2) Guitars

Q1) Portland Oregon Q2) Guitar stores

Q1) Georgia  Q2) Guitars

All gave me national results. I was using Firefox. Location set to United States.

[JustDucky]

Seeing this too.   Ran my state and then "Kayak".   Similar SERPs to what you described (using IE).

I thought Google has been experimenting with geo-locating searches with increasing frequency.

Opened FireFox and searched for "Kayak".  Positions 1 & 2 were Kayak manufacturers.

Ran second search under my state.  Then immediately searched for "Kayak" and got new SERP results.  First two positions are now Kayak Tour Operations in my state.