Wacky Google Goes Wiki

Nov 21 2008

Published by Dany at 5:18 pm under Marketing

Vote Results Up Or Down

Google has added a new feature to its Search results. You can vote the individual results Up or Down.

The rankings, for now, only change your personal results – but nothing Google does is ever so limited for long. How will these votes, when aggregated, influence Google? Are they another of the oncoming, rumored, and/or promised game changers we will see in 2009?

So far, we know that Google’s Search for Local Business is an important new tool for small businesses trying to reach new customers. And not just in the physical world. Online entrepreneurs are finding ways to use Google’s Local Search as well.

There is a lot of buzz about “Personal Search” – the ability of Google to match search intention with search results.

For instance, if you type in “Rams,” Google can not only predict if you are searching for the football team or the animal – it will predict whether you are researching or looking to buy. The exact same search may bring up vastly different results depending on the history of the person conducting the search.

Some are predicting that SEO will be turned on its ear come 2009, since it will be impossible to predict page rank if search results depend on the searcher and not the keyword or web site.

The combination of geo-tagging (or local search), personal search, and the new search wiki (voting results up or down) has mind boggling implications for small business owners. Be ready to test and adapt in the new year if you want to stay at the top of the page!