Google SEO changes - 'digg' buttons

[Dave Booth]

Hi,

I don't know if anyone has seen this yet - Straight Out Of Left Field: Google Experimenting With Digg Style Voting On Search Results

I just wondered what peoples thoughts were, whether you think it will be something you can use to your advantage or will be bad for you?

[Mogga]

It'll last until the spamkings work out how to abuse it.

[Dave Booth]

Yeah, I do think it looks open to abuse but as thats such an obvious one, I can't help but think someone in Google must have thought about a way to get round it before they started with this project. Even if it is only linked to the individual user and starts to learn your personal preferences/what type of sites you use and prefer, I think it could cause a shake up for seo.

[tbp]

They`ve had this on google toolbar for a while, looks like their bringing a lot of experimental things into the main engine.

Shouldn't cause many problems, as the votes only count for the users preferences now, and not the search results for everyone.

[getvisible]

it's only for your persoenalised search results

[DioBach]

it's only for your persoenalised search results

But you've got to postulate that if enough people make the same sort of moves in their personal results, it would be a good indicator of quality that could potentially effect the main SERPs. I can see farms of SERP diggers firing up around the Indian subcontinent as we speak...

[tbp]

I can see farms of SERP diggers firing up around the Indian subcontinent as we speak

Obviously though Google know this is going to happen, so either they`ve got to find a way to deal with it, or use it just for personal results.

I suspect though that they could apply their adwords technology to it, which prevents multiple clicks on ad's.

[Hyperwebsales]

Obviously though Google know this is going to happen, so either they`ve got to find a way to deal with it, or use it just for personal results.

I suspect though that they could apply their adwords technology to it, which prevents multiple clicks on ad's.

Not so sure. Google is looking to improve its results. This on the whole may improve the results. Even if a few spammers manage to 'game' the system, google is looking at the big picture and for the organisation and effort to cheat these effectively it may be worth it to google to overlook this like it does with anything that suits it.

Also, I think that they enough technology + PHD IT nerds to start calculating unusual trends and patterns and take action (much as in the link builder who buys 5,000 paid links from viagra/casino/spam sites in the first month of a new site launch).

Personally I don't think the current model will change anytime soon, but in say 5 years I think it is safe to say it will be a different climate (lets look back at how things were done in 2002).


Stuart

Stuart

[Azam.net]

Interesting.

What's the purpose of the happy and unhappy faces on the Google Toolbar that you can click when visiting a website? I thought they would eventually be used by Google to serve a similar function as what you mention Dave?

From the Google Toolbar website:

"Voting buttons: If you especially like or dislike a web page you're visiting and want to share your opinion with Google, you can vote thumbs up by clicking the happy face or thumbs down by clicking the unhappy face. These buttons can also be used to report especially useful or unsatisfactory results after searching with Google. Just click the appropriate button while you're still on the results page. This feature is currently in test mode, so you will not notice any immediate effects based on your action, other than experiencing a warm sense of satisfaction from having shared your feelings with people who really do care."

[Brendon]

>> I can't help but think someone in Google must have thought about a way to get round it before they started with this project

Dave, I think you give them waaaaay too much credit. I think they'll try and work it in, but I can't see it being a strong quality signal in the short term. Maybe in a few years, once they have depth of data, and a deeper userbase