Google Knol: Implications for SEO - A Close Look at an Example Knol
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Udi Manber included an example of what a really good knol would look like. It covers the topic of insomnia. While the actual written content is real, a lot of the meta content (reviews, rankings, etc.) is not; after all, they’re still in private beta so they don’t have that data yet. I have screen shots below that I had to play with a little to fit, or you can look at the full-sized version.
I know, it’s hard to make out; sorry, I had to shrink it. This is just the top part. At the top right we can see a picture of the author, her name, a link in her name (which presumably leads to her bio or web site) with a sentence underneath that explains her qualifications. To the left at the top there is a place for the average article rating, and you can rate the article as well (or you would be able to if it were live). You can email or print the article, click to specific sections of the article, and look at “peer reviews” and “comments.” You can see when it was last edited, and you can click on a tab to offer edits and/or revisions. The article also lists search terms, but there is nothing to tell you who created that list, Google or the author.
Just below the author’s information is a rectangle with Google ads. Google shows three. What you can’t see from this image is that Google includes a statement in small grey text that “The author of this Knol does not endorse these ads.” Perhaps it is a salve to one’s conscience.
Further down the knol, on the right hand side, you can see a list of related knols, along with their ratings. There are also links to other knols written by the same author, with their ratings. Then there are peer reviews. In the interests of transparency, these all include images of the reviewers, link to their reviews, and also link to the reviewers’ profiles. Again, something you can’t see in this image, just below the links to the reviewers, is the statement that “This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.” It’s good of Google to allow this option.
The article itself has tons of links and images. At the end it also includes a good selection of links that readers can turn to for more information, and references (also with links). If you’re not already seeing some good possibilities to take advantage of a knol’s typical properties for the sake of SEO, you aren’t thinking clearly.
Next: The Ultimate Linkbait? >>
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