If you’ve done any searching the last couple of days, while logged into your Google Webmaster account, you might have noticed little icons next to the search results. This is the new Google SearchWiki feature. This new feature allows you to comment on and order the rankings based on your preference. Interesting I suppose, but I don’t really get it.

As an SEO type my first thought was how this could be used to game the search results, but according to Google your personal preferences won’t affect the results of others. If this is true adjusting the rankings, even from 1000 Google Webmaster accounts won’t change rankings. I could see Google using these as one more aspect of their ranking algorithm, but who can say for sure other than those secured behind the walls at Google.

If SearchWiki could affect rankings via a voting system it might have some promise, but I only see it as a fancy bookmarking tool, and with all the other bookmarking tools – like the one right on the browser – why do we need another?