As many are probably aware Google launched SearchWiki, which allows Google account holders to alter their search results. For those who are not yet aware it basically works like a social news site like Digg in that you can vote up certain results, remove others, and add comments. If you vote a listing up or remove a listing from the results the SERPs change when you are logged into your Google account. These new SERPs are only visible to you BUT if you comment by leaving a note other Google account members will be able to view what you and others have written. Seems fairly innocuous and really just another step towards personalization of the search results. Of course, it also gives Google another access point into your personal data but I will leave that discussion alone for now. To learn more about how Google SearchWIki works take a look at the video.
Is this just a fun tool which allows users to personalize their search results?
On the surface it seems that way and I would venture to guess that it probably is benign right now. My concern is what Google is going to do with the data they collect going forward. The Google Webmaster Help Groups have already had some discussion about the possible implications of SearchWiki. The two things that concern me are 1. Google will compile the data they receive and attempt to include it in their ranking algorithm and 2. Shady SEOs will do exactly what John Honeck mentioned and use the results to trick clients.
Would Google actually incorporate SearchWiki into their algorithm?
Would Google incorporate SearchWiki into their algorithm? My initial guess would be no BUT they have made some questionable decisions and I am not sure that they would not test the results. That would certainly leave this open to abuse by some shady individuals who could easily employ an army of spammers to carpet bomb the results to push their results up (or push the competition down). Obviously, Google engineers have already considered this which is why the votes will only show up for each users Google account. But if they believe they can develop a way to incorporate this data without the spam (which is of course going to be impossible) they may give it a shot. Another issue would be that they would manually review certain results that tend to see a lot of activity. This might be good or bad depending on whether the votes are legitimate or a negative SEO attempt.
Shady SEOs duping clients IS a big concern
Now the second issue of shady SEOs using this to show their clients performance improvements is more of concern in the near term. When this went live we actually had a discussion about this and then I saw John talking about it too so it is something that should be considered. This is a realistic concern and provides yet another opportunity for the spam brigade to make SEOs look bad. I can see some of the shadier SEO firms taking the steps to create a Google account for their clients and show them “improved” results by voting the sites up in the results. Knowledgeable clients won’t fall for it but there are still far too many businesses whose representatives don’t know a thing about SEO and they could easily be duped. This is something that Google needs to consider and address. It is also another reason for those who are hiring SEOs to eschew ranking reports and measure traffic and conversion improvements instead.
I am on the fence
Right now I am not really concerned or excited about SearchWiki. It does not really affect our SEO service and I see it as fairly innocuous. I do have some concerns about the implications going forward if it ends up catching on. I am also even more concerned about the amount of data that Google is able to track as they add more features like this. At this point I am going to keep an eye on SearchWiki and see if it is being abused or included in the algorithm. Until they I will probably just ignore it.
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Whats the difference? People have to be logged into a Google account. And how many of those people that use Google search have a Google account? I would LOOOVE to know. I would guess around 2%
Yeah, you are right. I really don’t think it is a big deal for that reason. My only concern is the possibility of an “SEO” using it to dupe clients. Like I said some clients have some knowledge about search but there are plenty who don’t have a clue and I can see them getting taken advantage of.