Nov 29, 2007 at 9:25am ET by Barry Schwartz
Google has rolled out a new experimental feature that allows anyone to alter search results in the way they like. You can move good results higher, hide ones you think are bad and suggest your own.
Google was spotted testing this feature with selected users back in August and September, and then Googlified spotted it going live this week for anyone to use.
As you can see from the screen capture below, this new feature enables users to vote up a search result or completely remove a search result from the index.
Clicking the up arrow will promote the search result to the top spot for that keyword search and place an orange marker on that result to classify the result as being pushed up. Using the X icon will hide the result from being displayed.
Google explains:
This experiment lets you influence your search experience by adding, moving, and removing search results. When you search for the same keywords again, you’ll continue to see those changes. If you later want to revert your changes, you can undo any modifications you’ve made. Note that this is an experimental feature and may be available for only a few weeks.
Google launched Google Experimental Search in May of this year at where features such as Like/Don’t Like are made available for testing by anyone. You’ll also find these other features there:
There is currently a lot of discussion around this discovery at Techmeme.
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