The Greystone.Net Blog

In case you missed it, Google has gone public with Knols. That’s short for “knowledge” and while it appears simple on its face, there are many implications that you should be aware of. Some have gone so far as to claim that Wikipedia’s days are numbered.

That’s why bloggers haven been writing a lot about it in recent days. The best I’ve seen so far is Shel Holz’s recent post on Knols (you can see Shel at the Healthcare Internet Conference in Orlando in November).

The biggest issue I see is the impact on search engine rankings. The guys at SEO Book have already vented on this subject, but the bottom line is that Google is accused of giving a distinct ranking advantage to Knols. A Web page that’s been on another site for a long time is ranking below a new Knol, even though it contains the exact same content (it was copied and pasted).

On the other hand, I just did a search for “having a mastectomy,” which happens to be the title of a Knol on that topic, and that particular Knol doesn’t even show up in the top 50.

Nevertheless, lots of people are leaping into Knols, posting content they already have, adding new content, etc. Whether they are really expert on the topic remains to be seen. But even since the beta announcement last December, there have been plenty of Knols started on all kinds of topics.

So what does this mean for you? There’s a lot of paranoia about Google “ruling the world,” which I think fuels a lot of the complaints. But the jury is still out, IMHO, and I’m not seeing the evil. At least not yet. So, if you have prolific clinicians, see if they want to give it a try. Or, if you have your own clinical content, repurpose a couple of pieces as Knols. And let us know if you do. We’d love to track it and see how it works for you.

At worst, these are definitely worth watching. We’ll certainly do that and will let you know what we find. Meanwhile, we’d love to hear your take on the latest from Google!