Google Search makes it easier to search without personalization

Google is now making it easier to turn off personalization within Google Search results by adding links to the footer to turn off personalized results. Google added a link to “try without personalization” when the results are personalized for you in Google Search.

What it looks like. Here is a screenshot that I captured of the footer on the mobile version of Google Search. It looks similar in the desktop version:

If the results are not personalized, the footer will then read “Results are not personalized.”

How it works. When you click on that link, to try without personalization, Google will add the famous pws=0 option to remove personalization, something that has been available since at least 2009.

When that parameter is added, Google will strip out any personalization that Google Search uses.

Why now. Why has Google added this now to the footer? What has changed?

Google has said over the years that the personalization they use in Google Search is super lightweight, and primarily is only regional/location personalization and immediate previous query. I am thinking, this is just speculation, that some have been noticing a higher level of personalization in Google Search, so Google is now making it easier to remove that personalization. We have reached out to Google to confirm this and will update this story if we hear back.

Why we care. Personalized results can be the reason a searcher or prospective customer sees your site in Google Search or does not see your site in Google Search.

By giving a way for you to easily turn off personalized results, it allows normal searchers who are not aware of the pws=0 parameter to easily turn off personalization and see Google Search in its most raw form.

Google statement. A Google spokesperson sent us the following statement after the story was published:

“This change makes it easier for people to get an accurate understanding of whether their results have been personalized, while also providing them with the opportunity to explore non-personalized results. We also make it easy for people to adjust their personalization settings at any time.”

I should add, that Google did show if the search results were personalized in the about this result section of a search result snippet. So this change does make it easier to find and temporarily turn off personalization.