Apex Internet Blog

Google Sidewiki – Claim Your Website’s Sidewiki Today

Google Sidewiki is a relatively new feature of the Google Toolbar launched by Google in September 2009. This new social functionality allows people searching the internet to add comments and reviews about any webpage they are browsing.  Google Sidewiki has made the online environment more interactive and is a great tool for both website owners and website visitors alike. Website owners have the opportunity to claim their Sidewiki and add information about their website, and visitors have the opportunity to express their thoughts and opinions.

Although the concept of reviewing and commenting on web pages is not new to Google, their point of difference is that they have applied their ranking algorithm to sort comments so that the most useful comments display at the top of the comment results. Sidewiki collects information from people around the globe, with the aim to provide useful and relevant information about any webpage to online users.

Online visitors, who have an up-to-date version of the Google Toolbar and a Google Account, can write and publish comments about any web page by simply clicking on the blue sidebar that appears in the top left-hand corner of their browser. This blue sidebar, with its little speech bubble icon – looks like this:

Why Should You Claim Your Google Sidewiki?
By claiming your website’s Sidewiki you have the opportunity to add your own statement about your businesses website. Another advantage to claiming your Google Sidewiki is that your statement will always remain at the top, above other visitor comments. Claiming your Sidewiki provides you with a valuable opportunity to communicate with visitors to your site about who you are, what your business does, and what visitors can expect find on your site.  

New visitors to your site who actively use this new feature will appreciate reading a quick summary of your business and other visitors’ comments about their own personal experiences with your site. Sidewiki is a form of reputation management; you can closely monitor how visitors are interacting with your site and how they view your products and/or services.

How To Claim Your Google Sidewiki?
In order to do this you need to verify ownership of your website through Google Webmaster Tools. If you don’t have a Google Webmaster Tools account you should discuss this with your SEO consultant or your websites developer / designer about setting one up, so that you too can claim your Sidewiki. Once you have verified your Sidewiki you then need to load your website in your browser and click on the Sidewiki button in your Google Toolbar. The next step is to click ‘write an entry’; you will then see an option to write as the website owner. You then have the option to either create a site-wide entry or page-specific entries.  Once you have updated your entry, simply click publish. Your entry will appear at the top with a green background, signifying an entry from the website owner.

Google Sidewiki can increase traffic to your website. Sidewiki offers visitors to your website the option to share their comments on their respective Facebook and/or Twitter accounts, or alternatively email their comments to a friend. You may be concerned about irrelevant comments appearing in your Sidewiki results. Part of Google’s ranking algorithm with regards to sorting comments, is reviewing comments for relevance and quality.

Join Google’s movement towards making the web more social and claim your Sidewiki today.

Categories: Search
Posted on: 13th Aug 10 by Jessica Murray
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