Google Search Wiki whats your thoughs

[Kevin]

Just would like to get peoples thoughts on Goggles search wiki. Do you use it? and do you find it useful? You have to been logged into your Google account and you can remove results from the listings.

 

[Gordon N]

I don't really think it's for me. I spend a lot of time on the net and need to know that when I am searching I am getting all the results I need - especially if researching a clients field/industry. To think that I might miss something useful that I blocked four months previous would not be good.

I think it depends on what your use of Google is for be it business or personal, and more specifically the type of searches that you carry out on a day-to-day basis.

 

[stuarty]

Just would like to get peoples thoughts on Goggles search wiki. Do you use it? and do you find it useful? You have to been logged into your Google account and you can remove results from the listings.

Quite frankly it's rubbish and very confusing to users. We started a trial in November and the results were pretty clear - 70 % of users in the trial (50) found it very confusing. 0 out of 50 found it useful when we explained to them that it did not help their results. They tended to nudge their competitors down and their own sites up. We stopped the trial because the users were falsely thinking they were getting a #1 position and forgetting they were logged in. We now memo all clients to log out of Google before checking SERPS.

Incidentally - there are various rumours/theories doing the rounds that by nudging up your own company within search wiki results that it will affect the results of other users when similarly signed in. This is not true - see the first comment from Google's Matt Cutts here -> SearchWiki: Google Experiments With Customizable Search Results - ReadWriteWebSearchWiki: Google Experiments With Customizable Search Results - ReadWriteWeb

 

[4TM Social Media]

Quite frankly it's rubbish and very confusing to users.

I think that sums up my views on it nicely. I suspect very few people know what it's for or how to use it. For me, it's not a logical way to refine search results, and there are better places to keep notes.

Most things Google does brilliantly, but recently we;ve seen a number of projects which suggest it's looking for the next big thing, but coming wide of the mark.