Searchwiki looks to be the final version of a customizable search results trial from earlier this year. The aim is to give users the ability to control how listings appear for certain searches.

The eminent launch comes hot on the heals of Microsoft's release of URank which we blogged about last week. U Rank is a search engine that allows people to organize, edit and annotate search results, as well as share information with others.

Google's SearchWiki runs on exactly the same principle, the only difference being is that it's incorporated directly into Google's core results page - not a totally independent search engine.

Within SearchWiki, users are able to move listings up and down the rankings, delete listings they deem irrelevant, add listings they believe should be included and even add comments to listings (which will be visible to other users).

Justin Hileman has recorded a short screencast (below) so you can see exactly how SearchWiki works.




At this stage, SearchWiki won't have a direct impact on the rankings in Google's main web results for other users - but it will be interesting to see whether they try to include a SearchWiki factor into the algorithm at some stage.

While giving control to the community in terms of search engine results is great, I'm not sure exactly what traction this will generate - other than site owners keen to see their listing at the top of the rankings (even if only for their own searches).

At this stage, access to SearchWiki has been limited to only selected users, but access seems to be getting wider spread, so keep an eye out when doing your next search.

What do you think? Will such an enhancement by Google add value to your searching experience? Share your thoughts below...

Del.icio.us

Digg

Reddit

Furl