YNOT – A new research report from the Pew Internet Project reveals users both love and hate search engines. The majority of users are more satisfied than ever with the quality of search results, but the same pleased majority remains anxious about the collection of personal information by search engines and other websites. They also say they do not like the idea of personalized search results or targeted advertising.

Seventy-three percent of search users surveyed indicated they neither approve of nor appreciate search engines keeping track of their searches and using that information to personalize future search results, because they feel such machinations are an invasion of privacy. Twenty-three percent said they like the idea of personalized advertising, even if the search engines gather personal information in order to present matches.

Sixty-five percent of search users indicated they don’t like the idea of search engines collecting information about their searches and using that info to rank future search results, because the tactic may limit the information they get online and what search results they see. Twenty-nine percent of respondents indicated they would appreciate the increased relevancy of search results presented based on past searches. Search users ages 18-29 tended to view the practice of search engines collecting information about them more favorably than older search users.

On the whole, targeted advertising generates a strong negative response, but not as strong as the negativity associated with search engines collecting data. Sixty-eight percent of survey respondents said they don’t having their online behavior tracked and analyzed by anyone; 28 percent said targeted advertising based on behavioral tracking is OK with them, because it increases the relevance of ads.

The survey data were collected in February 2012, when 91 percent of online adults said they use search engines to find information on the web. Fifty-nine percent of those people indicated they use a search engine daily.

“Search engines are increasingly important to people in their navigation of information spaces, but users are generally uncomfortable with the idea of their search histories being used to target information to them,” said Kristen Purcell, Pew Internet associate director for research and author of the report. “A clear majority of searchers say that they feel that search engines keeping track of search history is an invasion of privacy, and they also worry about their search results being limited to what’s deemed relevant to them.”

The findings shed light on current policy debates about privacy, collection of personal information online and targeted advertising. In particular, Google’s new privacy policy allows for the collection of information about an individual’s online behavior on any of Google’s sites (including its search engine, Google+ social networking site, YouTube video-sharing site and Gmail) into a combined and cohesive user profile, alerting marketers to which products may appeal to specific individuals.

Some privacy and consumer advocates argue that many consumers do not want to have personal information about them collected and that the profiling process is often confusing to consumers, who don’t know how they are being tracked and what profiling procedures determine what ads they see.

The Pew Internet Project survey found 38 percent of online adults are aware of ways to limit how much personal information websites can collect about them. Of those who are aware of ways to limit data collection, some of the popular tactics include deleting a browser’s web history (81 percent), using the privacy settings at individual websites to control what’s captured about them (75 percent) and changing their browser settings to limit the information collected (65 percent). Male survey responders were significantly more likely than women to report knowing ways to limit how much personal information websites can collect about them (42 percent vs. 35 percent, respectively).

“Many people express concerns about targeted search and ads, but most internet users don’t have a sense that they can take steps to limit the amount of personal information that is captured and used by search engines and websites,” said Joanna Brenner, Pew Internet web coordinator and report co-author.

The full report, “Search Engine Use 2012,” is available as a PDF here.