Last week Google introduced “Search plus Your World” which integrates Google+ in to the search results. With the update Google also placed a new switch at the top right to turn off the personal results so you only see the non-personal results. These personal results are for example posts and pictures from Google+ but also all the recommendations from people within your own social circle and it even hides the +1 button. Unfortunately the big block “People and Pages on Google+” on the right is still shown, that should be hidden to I think.
You can use this switch but when you do a new search query then the personal results are just switched back on. But there is a simple cure for this if you don’t want these personal results or if you just think it clutters the search results to much. You can see the difference in the screenshot below after search for “YouTube”.
The personal results are on the left.
Always hide personal results
To always hide the personal results first click the little gear icon at the top right on the page with the search results. In the menu click ‘Search settings’. Then on the page that opens search for “Personal results” and click on “Do not use personal results”. After that hit the save button and the next time you search for something the personal results are hidden.
Important to note is that the personal results are not disabled and the switch is still there. It just works the other way around so if you want to see the personal results you can easily turn them on for the given query.