Google’s SearchWiki has been integrated into Google’s search results for 8 months now, but many searches still haven’t really noticed it or used it. When you do a search, you will see Search wiki next to every result:
By clicking on the up arrow, you move that search result to the top of YOUR searches. The X button removes the results completely. The little comment bubble below the search lets you add your own personal comments to any search. These comments will show up in your future searches. Google SearchWiki lets you personalize your own Google search results. Here is what it looks like the next time you search:
Note that you don’t impact the search results for other users, only yourself. However, you can see what other people have done for the same search results… their comments and their votes, if you scroll down to the bottom of your search page and click on “see all notes for this searchwiki”
This is a handy tool if you do some searches repeatedly over a period of time and want to find the sites you liked before or remind yourself you did or didn’t like a website. So far, it doesn’t seem that many people are using this feature in the lodging industry.
Here is a video about the tool created by a Google Search Engineer:
This tool is part of the growing trend of search results personalization. This is not a tool for SEO (it won’t get you higher rankings). In fact, altering the rankings will keep you from seeing how you (and your competitors) really rank for the rest of the world.
I can just see the snake oil sales people trying to hoodwink their clients into thinking that their doing SEO by adjusting these options in your site’s favor. Sad thing is people could probably make money at that.