Google steps up personalized Web search push

An undated handout of the Google homepage. Google Inc. has expanded beyond a one-size-fits-all view of Web search to tie together its efforts to offer personalized Web searches under the iGoogle brand, officials said on Monday.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, California (Reuters) - Google Inc. has expanded beyond a one-size-fits-all view of Web search to tie together its efforts to offer personalized Web searches under the iGoogle brand, officials said on Monday.

In recent weeks, the Web search leader has introduced a variety of new customization features to its basic personalized home page, first introduced two years ago. New features include a choice of themes with custom colors that users of Google's personalized home page can select.

"We are working to bring all this together," Marissa Mayer, Google's vice president in charge of search and user experience, told reporters during a briefing at the Googleplex, the company's Silicon Valley headquarters.

"(Google is) renaming the product iGoogle," she said.

As part of its effort to render more personally relevant Web search results, the company said on Monday it has introduced a geographic aspect to search results based on the location that individual users select as their home location on Google Maps.

Also this month, Google introduced the ability for users to refer back to their personal Web search history over the past several years. Web history is an optional feature and only available to users who have signed up and given permission to Google to track their Web surfing activity.