Q&A With Google On SearchWiki (Don’t Expect An Opt-Out Soon)

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Sphinn It!

Went Hot: Nov 25, 2008 - 10:48 am
Posted By: jameszol 482 Days ago
Source: http://searchengineland.com
Category: Searching

Danny interviewed SearchWiki product pros at Google.

7 Comments

Comments

from mike.tekula 482 Days ago #

Votes: 0

I was waiting for the "what is Google’s goal" question - and dissatisfied with the answer, as I could have expected."Empowering users" sounds nice, but I really don’t see how SearchWiki improves the user experience. I want to know how Google sees it fitting into building more profit for the company. I’d be surprised if it increased market share at this point - so what’s the real reason?

from divinewrite 481 Days ago #

Votes: 0

Great post Danny! “It’s a new way to empower users. You can remember answers to repeat queries. It lets you add your personal touch to our algorithms...” This is a very telling comment. Whether or not he meant to be ambiguous... Combine that with Dupont’s earlier comments about whether searchwiki would be used to inform Google’s public SERPs: "We’re always looking at user data as a signal" and "We’re not closing any doors". There’s no question Google will use searchwiki data as a ranking factor. And let’s not forget all the other user data they have at their disposal: http://www.slightlyshadyseo.com/index.php/googles-user-data-empire/ Visitor behavior will be a major factor in ranking sooner rather than later.

from graywolf 481 Days ago #

Votes: -3

It’s amazing to me how OTMFC google is with really bad ideas

from JoshuaSciarrino 481 Days ago #

Votes: 0

@mike.tekulaI think it empowers the users to see other’s opinions. Although I’m not completely against SearchWiki. I understand the business decision. I think Google feels very threatened by Yahoo/MSN deal is very real and IE8 coming out. They gotta do something. I do agree this was the right decision but I disagree with a lot of aspects surrounding it (user comments that are public, user name shows under comments, easy abuse for ’thumbing’ something up/down, quick launch, not allowing users to opt-out, didn’t tell users this was going to happen in advance (they told us about google suggest in advance), etc)I think Google is scared and made a sloppy business decision. Doing nothing would’ve been foolish when you got a serious threat within 6 months. (Yahoo/MSN deal takes time, IE8 data, you need a few months first :D)

from graywolf 481 Days ago #

Votes: 1

I see this the same way I see local politics, the only people who are willing to get involved and spend the time participating are people who have a vested interest in seeing results move up/down. Regular users may want a better google but they want google to figure it out not do it themselves. UGC may be a good thing, but without moderation its a lord of the flies style anarchy.

from jameszol 481 Days ago #

Votes: 0

I personally don’t mind the feature...naturally, some of my concerns are the same as others - what about spam? I don’t know if I really want my username to be displayed next to my comments...and I think I want a way to opt-out some of my other google profiles because I don’t want to see or know about comments/other votes/etc when I am using certain accounts...would it really be that hard to implement some privacy features?

from incrediblehelp 480 Days ago #

Votes: 0

I think it is completely ridiculous that people can simple move results where ever they want by only looking at how attractive the title and description are. Google gives webmasters zero control on how your title and description appears in the SERPs yet this is how most that use Search Wiki will judge. No one is going to go back and forth from SERP to website to take the time to rank websites. They will be moving websites around by the way they appear in the SERPs. I think that problem alone is not getting enough coverage and is far more troubling than the fact that this feature is being force feed to the webmaster community. I say webmaster community because let’s face it, how many other really have a Google account anyways.