Google Intros SearchWiki

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Google has added an interesting feature to the search interface called SearchWiki.

Essentially what this allows is the ability to add notes to your search results – wiki style. In addition, you can move the results around on the page. You need to be logged into your Google account to access the full feature set.

The changes you make only affect your own searches. But SearchWiki also is a great way to share your insights with other searchers. You can see how the community has collectively edited the search results by clicking on the “See all notes for this SearchWiki” link.

So, my question is, what will Google do with what it learns from the collective dynamic search notes. Will this help/hurt rankings, will SEO folks start looking for ways to spam this, will it change the way you interact with Google?

I’ve always admired Google’s ability to keep it simple, it will be interesting to see if this is valuable or simply feature creep. Check out the video demo here

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Posted by: John Jantsch on Nov 21, 08 | 7:07 am
Category: Google, Search Engines | Tags: , google searchwiki

Comments

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Joseph T. Dager

Thanks for the post, John. Raises a lot of questions for me! Putting search into the hands of the user may bother a lot of SEO people. Can you really count on being in the top 3 anymore? Or even the 1st page? Will SEO people come back and say, yes but there are only 20% of the people using this feature.

Actually, it probably makes SEO more important but I think it puts more value to Google Adwords? Hmm!

SEO Software

For me personally I put this in the feature creep category. I don't want to interact with my search results. Google owns the market because their algorithm delivers the most relevant results possible -- which they are constantly striving to improve on. I was on the AOL.com team when AOL search launched a whole bunch of interactive crap all over the search result page and it just bogged down the experience. My request to Google -- just keep it clean and simple!

JudyAnn Lorenz

I like your term "feature creep". Did you try that feature at the bottom of searches that says "Can you suggest a better site for this topic?" I just looked and it isn't there now. Apparently, it only affected my searches, not those of others.

I am a fan of wikipatterns and saw potential in Google Sites for an internal wiki. However, I have also found the google applications to be just a little clunky.

Some stubborn streak makes me a little reluctant to 'share my information' with other searchers, but let it become the property of Google, much as I love them.

TekGems

Well, I don't think it should come as a surprise that there is a social aspect to search now. Google said they may consider using user submitted rankings in the future, but it will not affect rankings yet. When Google uses our ranking suggestions, this will change the SEO game entirely. Spammers will have to figure out new ways to get their crap into the search engines.

Mark Madsen

Interesting things happening in the world of SEO. Something to consider when writing blog articles - how would your target audience position your pages on their search?

Kris Bovay

Not for me. I want to simplify my life and my work - I think this is just more complexity/work, for less benefit.

Katie Langston

I think this falls more into the "feature creep" category for me. JudyAnn, I think you hit the nail on the head when you said it's a little unnerving to have our thoughts become the "property" of Google!

Mike Spratt

Google are claiming that they will not use this new functionality to rank websites. But if vast numbers of users behave in an identical way surely Google will have to take that into account?

Mike
www.rapidbusinessgrowth.ie

John Jantsch

@mike - that's the big question on everyone's mind isn't it!

Vic

If this thing bears good fruit to webmasters, then it should be given a try. I just hope Google will act instantly and fairly when this movement becomes not beneficial to the general.

SEO Tips South Africa

Google is striving to tailor their search results to the individual, and this will be another step towards delivering that individual experience. SEO work will become more and more difficult, because a result for a given keyword or keyphrase will be interpreted different for different searchers. Should be interesting to see how search professionals deal with this one.

Joe

I think Google has a big push toward personalized search and this is part of it. What Google wants to do is to tailor search results for individual users based on info it collects through their user accounts. The effect on SEOs? The more personalized data is incorporated into the rankings, the less SEO activities like inbound links and optimizing pages has an effect. I think personalization is a nightmare for the SEO.

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