Currently on the Google search results page there is an option to custom rank the results to your own preferences (hat tip to TechCrunch for pointing it out). I couldn’t initially see the user value, because if I know I like a specific site, like delshakes.org I will just go to it directly instead of searching Google for it.

But, in the spirit of kicking the tires, I went ahead and gave a green arrow to delshakes.org when searching for “Delaware Shakespeare Festival”.

Delaware Shakespeare Festival search result

It was already the top result, but I want it to stay there, and if Google is mining this data I want them to see that it belongs at the top. Then something very interesting happened. I searched for “Shakespeare Festival” and it again appeared at the top.

Shakespeare Festival search result

I know, definitively that delshakes.org never has broken the top 25 results for “shakespeare festival” but Google is already harvesting my prioritization and using it for related searched.

If they are using the data to boost my site ranking for my custom searches, I have to imagine it is factoring into the algorithm for public searches. Whether that is true or not, I am giving all my favorite and home made sites a big green arrow up just on the chance that it will impact there SEO value.