Google gets even more personal

From an SEO perspective, giving users the ability to personalize their search results is an even bigger nightmare than their all-too-often algorithm updates that has us scrambling to adjust weight to different on and off page elements. From a user perspective, it’s a nice touch but I have a feeling it probably won’t be used very heavily.

In essence, Google is giving you that option of removing and adjusting results that you don’t feel are very relevant for any given search. Once removed, you won’t see that website appear in your search results again. Known as SearchWiki, if a user is logged into their Google account and they perform a search, the search results page will display some icons next to the title allowing you to alter the listings (higher or remove).

It’s a pretty controversial move and one that is surprising given that it hasn’t been fully tested (from memory I don’t believe it was a labs feature). I also have a sneaking suspicion that Google will be using these to adjust the overall algorithm based on user trends. If that’s the case, move your own websites to the top and get your staff and friends to do the same.

This is not a new concept, search.wikia.com has kind of been doing it, Microsoft have been experimenting with U Rank but this one looks a little easier to use. I just question how many people will bother using it. It’s out in a limited release at the moment but we’ll be keeping an eye on this one for sure.

Paul Fleming is co-founder and VP of Interactive Services for Dinkum Interactive. A trained teacher, Paul has worked in a variety of forms of Internet Marketing but with a focus on SEO. Originally from Australia, he now resides in Philadelphia with his wife and 2 ankle-biters.