Smart SEO Blog » 2007

Google Labs is experimenting with a voting system for their search result pages.

From the official page:
“This experiment lets you influence your search experience by adding, moving, and removing search results. When you search for the same keywords again, you’ll continue to see those changes. If you later want to revert your changes, you can undo any modifications you’ve made. Note that this is an experimental feature and may be available for only a few weeks.”

Basically, when you type in a search phrase, you’ll automatically have the option to “vote” for results that you like better. Clicking on the arrow button for a result means that you “like it”, thus moving the marked result at the top of the page (it is indicated with an orange asterisk as shown in the picture on the left). If you “don’t like” a result, you can click the X button and you won’t see that particular result when you use the same search phrase again.

This feature is currently in its experimental stage, so the Google gods only know how long it will be available and what aspects of this project will be permanently incorporated into the search engine.

If implemented, what does this mean for SEO?

Here are some things you should think about before you redo your entire SEO strategy for the sake of this new feature:

It’s still experimental. This means that this feature could only be temporary, or that it isn’t in its final version yet. What Google finally ends up with might surprise you, so while you may speculate endlessly, plan for several possible scenarios and implement your new tactics only when the feature is made permanent.
This is only available to users with Google accounts. Even then, not all people with Google accounts are logged in when they perform regular searches. Also, if these Gmail statistics are any indication of the numbers and demographics of Google account holders, you’ll see that they don’t have the biggest market share overall. Plus, their demographics compose of people aged 18-34 , tech-savvy, and have a relatively higher income than the average Yahoo or Hotmail user. If this isn’t your market, you needn’t be too concerned. Here are some other interesting statistics.
There’s no social networking aspect. I’ve seen other blogs compare this feature to Digg, but that’s a bit misleading. It’s a similar voting system, yes, but it’s private. There isn’t any hint of social networking – yet. Only you can see your personalized results, and, as far as I can tell, there’s no way for you to broadcast your votes through your Google account.
People might still figure out a way to exploit this for SEO purposes. I’m not sure how to do this yet, because the customized search results are private, but I’m sure some SEO genius out there will find some flaw in Google’s voting system.
Creating well-maintained, unique sites with great content is still the way to go if you want more stable long term success. Happy end users and a strong readership is what makes websites successful in the long run. This is something that many website publishers and search engines agree with.