There is all sorts of speculation around how the search algorithms will next change and it seems as if the increasing move towards localised and search history based results will continue.
Search results can be personalised based on many factors, but they can be divided into those based on your physical connection (your laptop, mobile and the physical Internet connection) and those based on your personal account (your real name, age, address, interests). These given different results – for example the location may be different of you are accessing the search from a different physical location.
But can search history be used to build up a pattern and knowledge of what you are searching for and which types of websites you click on and stay on for a long time? Google has most of this knowledge and data and could do this already. It almost certainly uses this data to build up a knowledge of which websites are more interesting, and this affected which websites are shown for all searches.
So much for the algorithms, but there is more to search than just ranking the results in a list. Again Google is moving ahead with personalisation and varying how future results are shown. This is an area likely to see major changes in the next few years, especially as the gap between computer and mobile disappears. Presentation and easy interaction with the search results are areas we are likely to see changes in.
Speculation about how search results will develop is useful and enables existing SEO and Internet Marketing strategies to be formulated which are robust to potential changes in search algorithm. Cornish WebServices have always ensured their SEO strategies are robust to future changes as this gives long term sustainable high ranking websites.