Spotlight on: Google SearchWiki

Have you ever wanted to customize your search results on Google so that you don’t have to sift through results that you know aren’t going to be useful to you?  For instance, I love to run.  That being said, one day I might be interested in finding out what parks are nearby to where I live, so I’ll type in my keywords and wait for the list of results to pop up like they normally do on Google.  As I go down the page of results, I might come across links to sites that I know will be useful.  Using the Google SearchWiki, I can move the results up so that they appear at the top of the page.  I can also customize the results even further by adding notes, which will always appear with that particular web link each time it comes up in a search.

You can also use Google SearchWiki to see how other people have customized their own searches.  Keep in mind that the changes you make only affect your own searches and not the searches of others.  However, Google SearchWiki is a great way to share your own insights with other people who might be searching for the same topic as you.  There is also a spot located near the bottom of the page where you can click to “See all notes for this SearchWiki” which will allow you to see any notes or comments that you may have made about various sites.  It’s a really neat feature, as you can see by watching the video below.

What is a Wiki?

A wiki is a website that uses wiki software, allowing the easy creation and editing of any number of interlinked Web pages, using a simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG text editor, within the browser.  Wikis are often used to create collaborative websites and to power community websites.  Ward Cunningham, the developer of the first wiki software, WikiWikiWeb, originally described it as “the simplest online database that could possibly work.” [source]