Since it's inception, Google has continually worked toward learning as much as its users as possible in an attempt to deliver personalized services.  The company has built its reputation, not to mention its fortunes, on the idea of relevancy - in search and in advertising.  Today marks a potentially major step toward higher personalization and relevancy for Google.

In an announcement on the Official Google Blog, the search company says it has enabled a more personalized search experience.  Using information gathered from its portfolio of web services, Google will now begin customize search results to better suit user behaviors, interests, etc.  If, for example, you spend a lot of time reading about health, nutrition, and diets, and you search for "carbs", Google is likely to show you results that deal with carbohydrates.  If, on the other hand, you spend a lot of time search and reading automotive sites, and you search for "carbs", Google is more likely to show you results that deal with carburetors.

The blog post says that the change will be subtle at first.  But as Google learns more about your habits and behaviors online, you should start seeing a customized search engine.  I'd run across a post at ZDNet this morning that was talking about a notice on the Gmail sign-in page that says "New! Google services will now be more personalized with Google Accounts".  I wondered just what that meant.  I have a feeling the two are related.

So does this mean that the email Gmail users are receiving will start to factor into search results?  What if you get a lot of spam on your Gmail account?  Does that mean Google is going to start tailoring search results around junk?  Of course I don't know the answer.  I don't even know for sure if the two are related.  But I'm almost sure they are.

Luckily, Google says you can return to a regular, uncustomized search engine at any time by simply signing out of your Google account.  It should be interesting to see how this works… and how many people start signing out before using Google search.