I recently posted about Google Personalising Search, and commented on the unknown impacts that this may have. This along with Google’s site speed announcement are signs that Google are changing the way we search and these changes are likely to change our SEO approach. In order to combat the effects of this we need to be ahead of the game.

User Interface is something that didn’t really have much impact on Search Engine rankings, for example a site with a fairly poor design could be number one for a term purely through links and on page SEO. However I firmly believe that in order for a website to succeed it needs a good User Interface. User Interface is the backbone to success online, after all no matter how much traffic a site has, if that traffic does not convert, it is a wasted effort.

The personalisation of search has meant that websites with a good design and User Interface are more likely to benefit. An example of a site that provides a great user experience is Amazon. They have a great User Interface and have devoted time to developing it, they also have their own personalisation features to make it a more bespoke experience for the user. A user will go to Amazon because they know they can navigate it with ease. This means that Amazon is likely to get repeat customers, which in turn is likely to affect the position that Amazon appears in the SERP’s when Google’s web history is turned on.

Matt Cutts announced at PubCon that Google will be using site speed as a ranking factor in 2010, but just how much of an impact this will have on the ranking algorithm is still not known.

Google have even supplied tools to allow you to check your site speed and suggest changes, you can find them at Let’s make the web faster

Another area which can help you benefit is branding, purely because the more well known you are the more likely a user is going to go to your website again and again. There are many ways in which you can brand your website, one of these is social media and blogging. Twitter is a great tool to interact with customers and increase customer retention, often leading to repeat visits to your site. Blogging and RSS feeds allow users to interact and follow your posts which again can lead to repeat visits.

These repeat visits mean that Google will recognise that the user has visited your site before or several times before and therefore they must think your site is more personally relevant. This will mean that your website will appear higher in the SERP’s for that user. This is of course only likely if web history is turned on.

I still believe that Web History and the Google Caffeine update will not greatly affect a “normal” user, however I do believe that good User Interface coupled with great branding will give you that competitive edge which will allow you to benefit from Google’s recent and future changes.