Google's New SearchWiki Tool Lets Users Give Their Two Bits

Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) has released a new search editing tool that gives users more control over their results. SearchWiki enables users to customize their searches by re-ranking, deleting, adding and even commenting on their search results. Users will also be able to see how others have edited their searches; however, the edits will only apply to their personal searches. "It will enable the end-user by contributing to the Wiki and the community aggregation to give Google more input on how the relevancy of search engine results," Gene Alavarez, a Gartner (NYSE: IT) Research analyst, told TechNewsWorld. Alvarez likens the new tool to those ubiquitous product reviews and the "report this reviewer" feedback option. "Now in the wiki environment, if I take my search results and start to play around with it, they get to take a look at how the aggregate has done that. And I'm sure over time they will be able to garner patterns from that which will help strengthen the relevancy ranking of all of the search results returned," he said.