Google Stars Enhance Personalised Search

So the latest personalised search rollout for Google has taken place

We’ve long believed that personalization makes search more relevant and fun. For nearly five years, we’ve been tailoring results with personalized search. Today we’re announcing a new feature in search that makes it easier for you to mark and rediscover your favorite web content — stars.

Read the official post, Stars make search more personal, on the Official Google Blog.

For example, when searching for credit cards you will be presented with the following top results (UK).

Credit Card Search on Google UK

You’ll notice a subtle star by each result in which is clickable, allowing you to select your “star” pages. As part of this example, I decided to click on Barclaycard as below.

Clickable Stars

Do another search for credit cards and there you have it - your starred page is ranked top of Google for your reference.

Second Search

So what happens with multiple star pages? I’ve continued by selecting numerous credit card provides and as the screenshot below, the maximum shown at one time is 3 starred results with a link to “show more starred results”.

Multiple Starred Sites

Nice idea and isn’t too much of a distraction to the natural listings. The question I’ve got is that if you search on Google and find a site you like, the first your going to do is spend time on that site, not go back to Google and click a star.

Interesting … can we track the links of those that are starred and clicked through to our sites?