Between the Lines

Google launches personalized searches via SearchWiki; Scale, data equals fine experiment

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Google has launched an effort it calls SearchWiki, which allows folks to customize searches and move results. An example: Say you disagree with a ranking of a result. You can move it up. You can also add notes to the result. And you can also remove results. The mark-ups will then carry forward when you search again. Keep in mind that the changes only apply when you are logged into your Google account, says the search giant. Here's a brief walkthrough. Say I do a search on Jamis road bikes and want to rate reviews.

I can then move it up (Google gives me a quick pop-up how-to). Once I move it up it stays at the top of my next search. I can also add a comment.

And by clicking on the "X" I can remove a result. Today, Google's SearchWiki is a neat feature. And as Stephen Shankland notes other companies--URank, Microsoft and Wikia Search--are deploying the same tools. So what makes Google so special? Google has the scale to take all of that user input, analyze it and potentially refine its algorithms. Honestly, I don't know if I'll use this too much, but Google has millions of users that may contribute. Rivals may have the same technology for these search tools, but Google has the scale to actually get a lot of data to mine. And that makes SearchWiki a very interesting experiment for customized search.

posted by Larry Dignan
November 21, 2008 @ 2:03 am

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Google launches personalized searches via SearchWiki; Scale, data equals fine experiment

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