What is Google's new SearchWiki?

Fasten your seat belts and get ready for a more customised search experience! With the introduction of the SearchWiki, as it is officially known, Google has introduced a new search feature which would be accessible to Google account users. Over the last few months, this feature had been in testing and once it is rolled out for everyone, it will allow users to annotate, add, delete and shift around search results of their own choice. That's right, it's now in the power of the searchers themselves to decide which site they feel should be at the top of their search result!

Innovation has always been an integral part of Google right from its inception. However, skeptics are viewing this little innovation as a risky move, which they feel will create complications and possibly even some very negative consequences. They feel that if Google uses the user opinions to influence overall ranking, that it's prone to abuse and manipulation (much like their current algorithm). Or they feel that it's contrary to the very nature of a search engine - people use Google to find relevant information, and now Google is using people to determine what it most relevant!

The key benefit however, would be the customisation or ranking results for commonly used search terms. The basic idea would be that a searcher, who frequently searches for certain terms, would count on Google to return the same site every time the term is punched in.

Google’s new SearchWiki comes loaded with several new capabilities, including the capability to promote result entries for particular searches, or even the ability to delete the chosen results from the list displayed for any given search. However, the most interesting and perhaps the sketchiest feature which is attracting a lot of attention, is the option of placing comments on the search results.

The SearchWiki users can view the comments associated with search results by other users. Living up to its name, the SearchWiki would act as a Wiki in true sense and enable users to view notes, added or deleted pages by other users. It is being anticipated that most of the search results would soon be laden with comments, some of which could even attract libel suits. Google says that a ‘thumbs down’ mechanism would be in place to flag down inappropriate comments. However, the bigger question as to what is “inappropriate” would still be a bone of contention. But there is also a positive angle to it: well-defined comments can be a valuable aid to the search process.

The ranking changes made on the listing through the SearchWiki would apply only to your own results. The pages edited added or deleted by others would not be a part of your default view. This is a reason that experts are citing as to why that wouldn’t be a very interesting SEO target. If Google automatically incorporates these edits into the default search result rankings, then the prospects of it being an interesting SEO target would be immense!

We could speculate on SearchWiki to no end, but at this point all we can do is wait and watch! The answers to our doubts and questions will come only after the new SearchWiki is rolled out and opened for common users. Whatever the full ramifications are, we can be sure of one thing: Google SearchWiki will undoubtedly lead the world of search in a new direction.