One of the programs that has been in the Google labs for some time is Google Search Wiki. The idea is that users can personalize their search results by voting sites up the results page, or even removing sites that aren’t particularly useful. Well, Google Search Wiki has graduated from the lab and now finds itself as the default behavior for anyone that is logged into Google.
The big question? What effect does this have on natural search results? Read on for more.
The short answer is nothing. But that may change.
In an interview with TechCrunch, Google Vice President of search products and user experience Marissa Mayer stated that currently the service does not have an affect on the natural search results, but may in the not-so-distant future.
An example that is used is if “thousands of users” kick a site off the SERPs, Google may factor that into the algorithm. Not a bad idea, if implemented correctly. I’ve always found it pretty frustrating when somehow a parked page finds itself above any of our clients’ sites for any search term (I don’t care if “xylitol gum” is in the URL, xylitolgum.com should not rank ahead of anything). If Search Wiki helps gets rid of these useless sites, then I’m all for it.
Marissa Mayer also stated that within the coming months users will have the option of turning Search Wiki off. This is sure to please some of the SEO folks out there that were ready to break down the Googleplex doors because they simply cannnot stand the idea of Search Wiki.
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