Google Conducts Trial on User-Voted Search Results

Grim Reaping writes "A feature in testing at Google Labs allows users to not only prioritize their favorite results, but also move, ignore, and add search results to personalized records of their preferences. The experiment features a simple 'thumbs up' and 'thumbs down' option for each search result; users can also suggest a URL that might be more relevant to their query. 'Other Google users will not be affected by the individual tweaking: instead it will be stored along with the users' own personal information for the next time they search for this word or phrase, so users are required to log in to avail of it.'" The company is also clear on the experiment's page: this feature may never see full release on the site.

Wait a minute... How is this useful?

[SwordsmanLuke]

So, you can adjust your personal search results, which are then saved for your use next time... How is this useful? If the search results aren't what I want the first time, I'm not likely to dig through them looking for better links - I'm going to try a different search phrase.

On top of that, once I find what I'm looking for, I'm either going to bookmark it or forget about it. I'm not going to search on the same keyword/phrase every time I want to visit a website.

I realize this is just a trial, but seriously, can anyone explain to me how this a good idea?

Personal results?

[calebt3]

Other Google users will not be affected by the individual tweaking: instead it will be stored along with the users' own personal information for the next time they search for this word or phrase, so users are required to log in to avail of it

Wouldn't this defeat the purpose of voting one site a better result than another? Why bother ranking sites when bookmarking the results would achieve the same result (as well as be independent of a login). Actually, a plugin that bookmarks the top ~15 search results automatically might be a useful FF plugin...
Back on topic: Why not allow a "standard search" or "community-moderated search" toggle switch? The only downside to a community-modded search that I can see in goatse being voted up by hoards of trolls.

Re:Implications

[richlv]

that might seem like a good idea, but i rarely log in to search for something (that is, i almost never log in).
but i quite often encounter obsolete pages being in the first spots with actual search targets pushed even to second and further pages - in these i cases i really would like to provide information on which page has the actual information - but this would do little for me as next time i would now what to look for.
i'd like to give a quick feedback to help other users, but i also understand that such a system would be abused to hell. how to solve it ? i don't know. maybe some levels of trusted reporters or something...

Re:Wait a minute... How is this useful?

[Hunter-Killer]

The workaround to get at the info on ExEx is to use Google's cached version of the link, and then browse just the cached text.

Is it wrong to do this? I'd assume ExEx thinks so, as their business model depends on it. However, their links would not appear as often on Google unless they indexed the answer too. It's wrong to offer search engines information, but users less or different stuff (which is why they're hated). Having the info accessible by other means is a price they find willing to accept in order to compete on the Internet.

As for other technical info, I would not mind if search relevance was aggregated by usergroup/tag. I doubt I'd be the first to search for a solution to a problem, so I'd find it beneficial for someone else to mod the solution (or relevant info) up. I'd tag myself with sysadmin and cisco, and contribute while reaping the benefits of a preexisting group. If there was a limit to the number of tags, link spammers would have a hard time influencing results. If the idea proved popular, one could create membership requirements for adding new members (everyone can use results, but only certain people can mod results).