Google Knol

Picture it: a site where anyone can create an account, write an article (known as a "knol") and publish it to the world. Within that article, they can promote, recommend and publish. Sound familiar?

Yes, Google has entered the social portal/content area of the web, competing with the likes of Wikipedia, Squidoo, Hubpages, et. all. Coined Google Knol, this new social article writing service allows you to be the all-knowing source for any topic you wish. Whether the public agrees with it will be determined, though!

With Google Knol, you can create a profile name, which becomes a permanent fixture of the URLs of all of the "Knols" (or pages) you'll be creating. Each "Knol" can also be named, according to the title of the article. Your articles can be whatever you wish - whether you want to blurt out a Wikipedia-esque encyclopedia page, an image resource on a particular topic, or just about anything else. Yes - you can promote your sites directly on a Knol. Since this is a Google service, there's certainty that respected Knols will be receiving some Google love.

There's no doubt that Google Inc. is flustered over Wikipedia's dominance of most (if not all?) major one and two word keyword Search Engine Results Page listings. Therefore, the notion that Knol is seeking to re-claim the #1 SERP throne is not a far-and-away speculation. Surprisingly, Wikipedia's offical response was a positive one, quoting: "The more good free content, the better for the world."

The main lure in Google's tacklebox - beyond its brand name and stance as the king of search engines - is the promise of ad revenue sharing (convenient, with the existing AdSense service). Hypothetically speaking, imagine what it could be like to surpass Wikipedia's spot for "debt consolidation" or "iPhone."

How about at least getting the middle or bottom of a luxurious page 1 SERP for these results? Would it be possible, simply because you're using a Google-backed service on Google - of whom is looking to stamp out one of the biggest thorns in their side? This possibility is in the air with Knol.

Thanks to the Web 2.0 methodology, all you really have to do nowadays is get oodles of traffic, present something exciting, and you have an instant classic. Google Knol will undoubtedly have a bandwidth back-breaking start with floods of webophiliacs looking to create their own pages, in the hopes of getting otherwise impossible search engine results.

This, of course, poses a threat for the idea's originator - Squidoo, and its next runner-up, Hubpages. What will become of Lenses and Hubs? Will they be the brunt of unfair and unfortunate search engine results with the inception of Google Knol? Will Google Knol ever experience the same mass-deindexing of pages that struck Squidoo in the summer of 2007, if there is widespread spamming?

An initial blog posting on google.blogspot.com stated several key points and expectations that Google has for Knol (see the original article, here):

"A knol on a particular topic is meant to be the first thing someone who searches for this topic for the first time will want to read."

This comment may or may not allude to a higher-than-agerage-priority ranking of Knol pages.

"Google will not serve as an editor in any way, and will not bless any content"

This interesting comment opens the door to many questions - will Knols be moderated at all? To what extent will they abuse the system, and when will it trigger some form of action?

"People will be able to submit comments, questions, edits, additional content...Anyone will be able to rate a knol or write a review of it."

Following with the true Web 2.0 mentality, it appears as though a trusted community of people who simply want to "see the best of the best make it" on Knol will be the moderators. On this same subject:

"...we cannot expect that all of them will be of high quality. Our job in Search Quality will be to rank the knols appropriately when they appear in Google search results.

Knols might be ranked in a myriad of ways, which may be as mysterious as the inner-workings of page rank itself. It may be influenced by ratings, comments or other external venues.

In its pre-Alpha stage, Google offered a single example screenshot of a Google Knol page. Notice all of the standard makings of a portal page: complete with user-defined Meta, Heading-tagged paragraphs, an Author box, AdSense ad, related Knol pages and more.

The footer of each Knol appears to be greatly inspired by Wikipedia, with a section for references and resources used, external links, and the inclusion of a blog-esque Comments Box. (see the full screenshot here)