Search Engines and Algorithms: New Social Search - SEO Concerns About Social Search
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SEO Concerns About Social Search
Social Search methodology could be an attack on the SEO industry if the engine takes off. So now, optimizing not only means influence search algorithms, it also means getting friends, colleagues, or even scripts in the form of bots to vote your SERPs as good and relevant to their searches.
SEO practices and hiring a consultant could basically fly out the window for this type of search engine. Results manipulation in this way, for better or worse, would turn the SEO industry on its ear.
Another relevant question is how can new SERPs climb? If you have a new site with zero votes, does it just sit underneath all the ones with votes despite it being fresher and having more detailed and better information? According to AnooX’s method: absolutely. We are in no better situation than when people who have more money, more time, more creativity, and could influence results such as in search engines that take into account paid advertising over organic search results. Maybe if people cannot find the good SERPs to vote on them, it could be a huge mess.
AnooX gives a scenario on their website. “For example, you search for "Hotels in Paris" and you see 10,000 listings. You think that "Hotel France" which is listing number 46 should be listed higher. You then click on Vote for This button in front of this listing. Within 15 minutes of your Vote then the AnooX search result listing will be updated as per all the votes that have been received during the past 15 minutes. So when someone searches for "Hotels in Paris" again, AnooX search results will reflect the result of your vote for "Hotel France" by having moved it to the top of the search results, if it is the only listing that has received a Vote under that keyword or will rank it based on the Votes that it has received compared to the other listings under this Keyword which also have received Votes.”
One of the major drawbacks to this scenario is the ability to easily manipulate the results in order to position my own site. If a site doesn’t receive a vote within 15 minutes, it gets bumped. I’m not sure where: if it gets moved to position #2, or somewhere else, but if my site is the only one that’s voted on, it suddenly becomes number one? I can’t figure this out just yet.
One of the justifications they use in their ranking method is the majority is usually right theory. “In fact this premise has been proven in many recent studies, that is: when it comes to vast domains of knowledge, the majority are on average far more right than any other source of information, whether it being machines or human editors.”
I hate to point out the obvious here, but the majority isn’t always right. The majority at one time believed the world was flat; that human slavery was morally acceptable; and that only birds could fly. To assume that what is accurate and relevant is the same as what’s wildly popular at the moment is a hugely narrow-minded, and a largely incorrect, perspective. Further, I would really like to know which of these “recent studies” they are referring to proving the majority IS indeed right. Some studies rarely prove anything; many usually only support a theory. In my opinion, if you can pepper the majority vote with instances of inaccuracies or incorrect judgment within that vote, then the notion of proving the majority is right theory is naďve, at best; and at worst, it is extremely ignorant.
Next: Comparing Yahoo! and AnooX >>
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