According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, the number of English language Google searches conducted worldwide has increased by a noticeable measure since the introduction of the Knowledge Graph last week. That’s good news for the search engine giant, as well as the non-Google sites getting more play as a result of the Knowledge Graph box.
Ahmit Singhal, one of the company’s top search executive told the WSJ, “Early indications are that people are interacting with it more, learning about more things…and doing more queries.”
Surging Searches
While Google officials said the number of searches were up, they wouldn’t say by how much. Given the staggering number of Google searches conducted every month, a small increase could amount tens of millions of searches.
No one who’s looked closely at a Knowledge Graph bar would be too surprised to find out that it’s driving a search surge. Every Knowledge Graph generates a number of different links to other Google searches on related subjects.
A search on casino mogul Steve Wynn generates a sidebar with 12 separate links to Wynn-related searches, mostly biographical, Wikipedia-style information. These links keep visitors in the Google realm and create additional traffic for related sites.
Google’s Future
Knowledge Graph’s success bodes well for Google’s long range plans for making searches more, in the company’s words, “semantic.” In layman’s terms that means the Google searches will actually understand the meaning of words and seek out similar, related, terms.
Given Google’s track record with new technology, it seems safe to say that this feature will see some pretty serious enhancements in the months and years to come. It doesn’t take a huge leap of the imagination to picture Google monetizing the Knowledge Graph sidebar with paid listings.
Making it Work for Affiliates
So how can affiliates grab a piece of the Knowledge Graph pie? For now, Google is drawing primarily from Wikipedia and licensed databases for sidebar information. They also seem to be limiting the feature more towards people, rather than general subjects. A search for online poker won’t generate a sidebar, but a search for Howard Lederer, does.
While there’s no agreement as to how best to take advantage of this new feature yet, writing up a few Wikipedia articles on gaming personalities probably wouldn’t hurt. No matter what else happens, it appears that Knowledge Graph is going to be a permanent part of the search landscape.
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