Personalize Your Google Search with Search Wikis

Being at the forefront of search technology means you never stop tweaking. You never wait until something is broken before you fix it. Yesterday Google launched its newest functionality, "the Search Wiki." This newest addition allows searchers to change the order of results based on their preference. For example, if you Googled "shoe store" and got several irrelevant results or feeder sites, you can move a site that actually has "substance" to the very top. It even allows you to delete search results. There is one catch. You need to be logged in via you Google account. Along with editing the order of your search results, you can also make comments on result items which anyone can see, logged in or not.

The day after launch, it has seemed to have garnered mixed reviews. I happen to believe it's an awesome addition. It's a great focus group for Google to pull from. The results would further help the search engine sift through results with actual content. Theoretically, the online collective can help the Google engine decipher sites with substance from sites artificially optimized. No doubt, that there are still many who will try to cheat the functionality, but the sheer numbers of actual consumers will more likely overpower artificial enhancements. Allowing mere mortal consumers to vote on what they think is relevant is one more step toward a truly democratic search engine.