Google’s SearchWiki Gives Users Power

The introduction of the Google SearchWiki has sparked many conversations around the web. What will the SearchWiki bring to the table, and how will this affect search and businesses that rely on search engines for their sales and other means of success?  It is important to first understand how SearchWiki works. Users with gmail accounts can sign in and perform a search on Google. The results are then shown as usual, but now, the user has the option of toggling which result he/she wants at the top. That is to say, the user can delete a result if he/she sees it as irrelevant. The user can also comment on a result. These comments are public, and all user comments will be posted with that given result.

Although it is not clear how popular SearchWiki will be, it is important to note what changes will be necessary if it does become widely used. Even though there are several factors that influence where a website shows up on Google’s  natural results, content might provide the largest influence in the future. If search results are manipulated by users, the objective would change from catching Google’s attention, to capturing the attention of millions of users.