Promote or delete a Google search result?

[JenBurrows]

I want to talk about this new thing I've seen with Google where you can promote a site or delete it from ever appearing on a search again... I don't like this idea. I guess on one hand it's good for the consumer to get rid of irrelevant sites appearing when they search but don't you think that should be and has been Google's job? I mean, isn't that what a search engine does? Index and rank sites according to relevancy and so on? What's the point of even trying SEO aggressively if Google search results can be removed or promoted to higher ranks just for a specific viewer?

I don't get it. Perhaps I have it all wrong. Will someone please explain this to me....

And on top of the risk of having your site removed (bad) or promoted to a higher rank (good) what effect does this have on your page rank and any results that haven't been tampered with?

What do you think?

[Micheal Pannell Realtor]

it is only on a personal search. It will not show to others.

[Michael Paul Eau Claire]

I suspect Google will probably aggregate the results over time to change rankings...but that seems logical to me. That's what they do -- rank sites based on content, links, and user input (clicks from SERPs).

[Discover Davis Homes]

Jen, this is called search wiki. Google says they aren't using it as a factor in ranking at this time. The way the system is set up now, there could be quite a bit of abuse so I doubt it would be a major factor in determining a site's ranking. There are a couple of other posts in this section that also talk about this.

[JenBurrows]

Great! Thanks for the info. I'll look for the other posts.