Posted by: Kerry Houchin, Marketing Coordinator

What is it, and how does it work?
SearchWiki is a new tool that Google has unveiled allowing users who are logged into Google accounts to customize their search results.

Now, in addition to searching, you have the ability to:

• Move your favorite search results to the top of the listings
• Add a URL to appear along with Google’s results for certain searches
• Remove search results you don’t consider useful
• Make public comments about search results

One thing to note, however, is that the public comments are the only customizations that will appear to other users. If you move your website to the top of the results, you are the only one who will see that.

Sounds great, but what are the drawbacks?
As with all new technology, some people are resistant to embrace the change. One of the biggest complaints about Google’s SearchWiki is the lack of an opt-out button. The only way to turn SearchWiki “off” is to log out of your Google account. Others complain that the addition of the SearchWiki buttons make the notoriously uncluttered Google search interface too messy and confusing.

There is also the possibility that users will leave public comments that are inappropriate or profane, and of course spammers will take this opportunity to get their comments posted.

Also, some claim that privacy is compromised because public comments include your user name, comment, and the exact term you searched.

So what does all this mean to me?
Marketers will be able to reap some benefits from SearchWiki, such as being able to read comments left about their websites and seeing how many times their websites have been promoted to the top of the page or removed from results. Only a limited number of comments are displayed, however, and Google is not disclosing what determines which comments are shown.

Google’s goal for introducing SearchWiki is to make the search experience more user-friendly and enjoyable by giving searchers the ability to tailor the results to meet their needs. If, in fact, you do perform the same searches over and over again with the intent of going to the same website every time, this will make your search experience better. But isn’t the purpose of searching to find new information? What’s your take on it?