Search engines are really a boon for the billions of internet users. Yet, the major controversy arises with the introduction of personalized search by the leading search engine, Google. Followed by the Google, Bing also enabled personalized search. Both these search engines claim that they offer much better results through the personalized search. However, the new concept has received the mixed reviews from the users. Around 65% of the users tend to be careless about the better results. When it comes to the privacy, more than 75% of the users have a sensation that it is not good, as it peeks into the privacy of an individual.

The negative report about the privacy invasion by personalized search has been put forth by the survey results. The survey was organized by Pew Internet & American Life project and an approximate of 2000 US citizens were participated in the survey, which is just a part of the global survey regarding the usage of search engines.

The brief report on the survey result about the outcomes they derive using the personalized search. 65% of the participants felt that it is not worth as it limits the survey and gives irrelevant results, where as 30% of the participants felt that the new concept is really excellent and it offers superb and relevant results. The remaining participants had no idea on the results of personalized search.

Further, 56% youngsters are not comfortable with the personalized search results. On the contrary, more than 70% elderly people reported that they can find appropriate information and feel comfortable with personalized search.

Additionally, the survey focused on the level of privacy affected by the personalized search offered by the search engines. Surprisingly, around 70% of the users sensed the lack of privacy, as the search is more likely to gather information about the users. However, others had no concerns about sharing the information and privacy concerns.

However, just with the results of Pew, it cannot be concluded that the personalized search should be withdrawn, because the survey doesn’t include opinion and reviews of the yesteryear users. It shows that the current generation doesn’t like this concept. The surprising and shocking fact is that personalized search engine has become the vital part and the basic norm at the Google for the past couple of years and the same is applicable on Bing for the previous one year.

Both these search engine offer the personalized search engine results even if the user doesn’t log into any of these search engines. Owing to these controversial results, Google has revealed a beautiful and self explanatory post explaining the benefits of using the personalized search. It was also stated that the personalized search engine results are incorporated merely for earning revenue, which cannot be neglected.

Even though the personalized search engine results tend to affect the privacy, it has some benefits to the users.