GOOGLE HAS FOLLOWED the lead of its main rival Bing by announcing it is to introduce ‘personal results’ into the results it offers for a search query.

The new features will see personalised results, based on the activity of a user’s Google+ contacts, displayed prominently on a results page.

The intention, outlined in a blog post published this afternoon, is that Google will become a search engine which “understands not only content, but also people and relationships”.

The new feature is intended to make it easier for users to find their own photographs and posts through the Google search engine.

It will also enable users to gain quicker access to their contacts’ profiles, by displaying a link to their Google+ page if the user searches for their name.

Google says the new features have been carefully organised to ensure it does not breach a user’s security, pledging that for users who are already signed into their Google accounts, search results and related data will be treated as securely as Gmail.

The service is to be rolled out to all signed-in users who use Google.com through English in the coming days.

The search is a similar function to Bing’s tie-up with Facebook, which – for some users – prioritises results based on the pages ‘Liked’ by a Facebook friend.

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