Google's beta personalized search technology, unveiled yesterday, may potentially have an impact on how paid search ads are targeted, writes ClickZ. Related to its My Search History feature, Google's Personalized Search uses people's search histories and click behavior to tailor search results. It is also connected with Google's Fusion initiative, incorporating its recently launched personalized homepage beta. All of these services require a Google account, which users must be logged into.

Google stores a person's search history on its servers, enabling users to make use of the personalized search function from browsers on different computers, according to TechWeb news. Items in search history can be deleted, and the personalized-search feature temporarily turned off.

"Google personalized search does not affect the ranking of advertisements at this time," a spokesperson told ClickZ, but he didn't rule out the possibility. Google's search personalization efforts have been in the works for some time.

The new personalized search feature replaces My Search History, writes Internet News; that service was launched in April to let users see how many times they have accessed a specific web page and when they last viewed it.