This is the logical next step in the evolution of Google as far as I’m concerned. Their algorithm has been tweaked until it can’t be tweaked any more without getting dynamic, on the fly, user interaction to help it be even more targeted and to develop further. And here it is…Google SearchWiki.

Now you can customise your search results by re-ranking, deleting, adding, and commenting on search results. You can also see how other other searchers have customised any given result.

You’ll see the changes you make whenever you do the same searches while signed in to your Google Account, or until you decide to undo them. The changes you make only affect your own search results , and your changes will be included on a public comments page where you can also view how the community has edited or commented on a set of results.

Will this go to impacting on the natural search listings long term…in my opinion yes!

New Google Analytics Tracking Code

var gaJsHost = ((”https:” == document.location.protocol) ? “https://ssl.” : “http://www.”);
document.write(unescape(”%3Cscript src=’” + gaJsHost + “google-analytics.com/ga.js’ type=’text/javascript’%3E%3C/script%3E”));

try {
var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker(”UA-xxxxxxx-1″);
pageTracker._trackPageview();
} catch(err) {}

Old Google Analytics Tracking Code

var gaJsHost = ((”https:” == document.location.protocol) ? “https://ssl.” : “http://www.”); document.write(unescape(”%3Cscript src=’” + gaJsHost + “google-analytics.com/ga.js’ type=’text/javascript’%3E%3C/script%3E”));

var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker(”UA-xxxxxxx-1″);
pageTracker._initData();
pageTracker._trackPageview();

This can be addressed with a Canonical redirect in your .htaccess file in the root of your domain. For best results, each page of a website should be reachable at a single persistent url. This address is known as the page’s canonical URL (Canonical refers to being the authoritative address).

Options +FollowSymlinks
RewriteEngine on
rewritecond %{http_host} ^mysite.co.uk [nc]
rewriterule ^(.*)$ http://www.mysite.co.uk/$1 [r=301,nc]
rewriteRule ^index.php$ http://www.mysite.co.uk/$1 [R=301]

These categories are not only used in Google’s Ad Planner but surface in Google Analytics under benchmarking and also surface in Google Insight in exactly the same format. I recently interviewed a candidate for an SEO role who had worked for Google in India…she stated that she manually vetted sites before they went into the index…I wish I had asked her if some kind of categorisation was taking place or if this was her primary role in the entry process.

There is inevitably going to be websites which straddle categories and see competitors outranking them on a term they feel strongly on. Does this categorisation have an impact on what you can realistically rank for in the SERPS?

When asked how the platform would fair against its competitors Lee said “It’s simple; not only visually do our sites stand out but the engineering that has gone into the design of the management system is second to none. We hope to sit above our competitors such as TheBestOf and CityLocal. The way we have engineered the platform and structured our information architecture will give our franchise owners the edge when it comes to search engine placement. A lot of time has been spent making sure the platform has been optimised for natural search.”

The first Franchises are due to launch their new platforms early in 2009 with the likes of Portsmouth, Plymouth and London already snapped up.