Search Engine Optimization

Google announced it is inviting people for a private beta testing of its new project – Google Knol. New service will allow anyone to create articles on any subject. Google Knol has a degree of "wikiness" to it, however it will be different in terms of editing. Unlike Wikipedia which allows anyone to edit it’s articles, Knolers will create stand alone content, whereby public will have a chance to vote for that article and write reviews.

There will be as many versions of the same articles as there are writers, but the best ones will get propped up by users. Essentially Google Knol will give a chance to anyone to share what they know, without the constraints of other people editing it, or shady interests dipping their hands in the process.

The name Google Knol comes from the word “knowledge” as it seems weird names are quite popular on the web =) (Google, Urkut, Shpinn, Reddit ) Short and easy to remember.

A new revenue source for writers.

"Knol is all about the authors," – Udi Manber head of the project, reported by Danny Sullivan of Search Engine Land.

Apart from the ability to solely create and publish articles, writers will be required to put their name out to the public, allowing people to see who wrote it.

Google Knol will not only serve as the editing and hosting platform, but will give writers a chance to make a sidebuck off of their work. If authors give Knol permission to run Google ads, Google will split a part of their money juice with writers in the same manner as Google Adsence program.

What will Google Knol mean to the web?

As said, a launch might not happen at all — there’s certainly no set date. – Udi Manber, Search Engine Land

If it did launch would happen?

Knowledge is being gradually transferred to big platforms, where smaller guys are having harder time to compete.

As Danny put it:
“It begins to feel like the knowledge aggregators are going to push out anyone publishing knowledge outside such aggregation systems.

The brightest example is Wikipedia, which seems to rank for half of all the search queries.

The question that I have, how accurate is it? In the recent months Wiki has slipped on the slope of “accuracy”, and anyone interested in the subject would probably agree that it is wise not to trust wiki, at least on some touchy subjects.

Google Knol seems to have a solution for this problem, since no one but the creator of the article will be able to edit and other users will only participate in the popularity process.

Squidoo is already operating with a similar idea. Anyone passionate about anything can write and earn money from the ads.

Yahoo Answers is also working out and has some weight on a number of topics. It is not precisely a knowledge base, but a quick answer venue, which is perfectly reflected in its name.

In the light of Web 2.0, Google seems to be taking steps to stay competitive, as well to increase revenue streams. However the overall picture apart from Google Knol is becoming alarming.

The downside of such centralization, is the centralization itself, which history shows is never good.

There are many benefits to running content on the separate platform, both for authors as well as the readers. Authors get their name heard, message communicated, knowledge shared and some pocket money earned. Readers get all-in-place database without the hassle of looking for info, though that hassle is largely eliminated thanks to Google, Yahoo and co., it is still nice to have it all in one place.

How will it affect the future of the internet?

Google Knol and SEO.

Knol will allow authors to link out to their own websites, creating a good motivator for writers to get their content up to the public. Referrals will be gold, especially if writers are able to provide value to the reader. Good article will instantly create an image of expertice and earn a degree of respect from reading audience, which will be directly passed on to the website of that writer. I believe Google Knol will become quite popular with professional community.

“Authors can link out at will (and links might NOT have nofollow attributes on them, allowing reputation to flow from Knol pages to others)”

Though Danny states there might be a possibility of having nofollow with Google Knol, I doubt it will happen. Knol would get spammed by SEOs, both black, white, grey and purple. The link juice is too hard to pass by. There are also dangers of other types of spam, but Google claims they have got a good grip on it and have learned a lot from Blogger.

Anyway you look at it, Google Knol is going to make more buzz in the future, so lets wait and see how it unfolds.