Find out How Google’s Wonder Wheel Could Impact SEO
by sam qamIn the last week Google have rolled out the latest update to their search engine results page. Conspicuously tucked just under the Google logo in the top, left hand corner of the results page is a little link stating ‘show options’. Clicking this pulls up a sidebar containing a whole host of new ways that users are able to customise their search results. This article is going to focus on one of the more interesting additions: Wonder Wheel. Wonder Wheel is essentially Google’s take on a visual search engine, and it could prove to have a couple of notable uses for search engine optimisers.
What is Wonder Wheel?
Wonder Wheel is a form of visual search engine that places related links into a form of spider chart, allowing users to browse through related searches; ideally leading them to the set of results that perfectly matches what the searcher was looking for. The concept of a visual search engine is not a new one, websites such as quintura have provided them for a while, but the Wonder Wheel appears to be a clean, user friendly version that has the benefit of being tied into the most used search engine o the web.
How does it work?
After conducting a search users are able to open the new options sidebar and click on the seductively multicoloured Wonder Wheel link. After this the centre f the results page is taken up by a blue circle with the original search term contained in it. A number of legs lead off from this circle and point to related search terms, upon clicking one of these terms the window scrolls along and creates a new ‘wheel’ with this term at its centre. Users are able to continue clicking on related terms until they manage to refine the search until it provides the specific results they were looking for.
Does it impact SEO?
While it is doubtful that there will be any direct benefits of wonder wheel to helping sites improve search results there are a few ways in which it can be used to help with SEO efforts. Firstly it can prove a valuable tool when writing copy for a website as it shows what terms Google relates to others. It is well reported that in ranking results Google doesn’t only look for the search terms; it also analyses the surrounding content to see if it appears relevant. By using Wonder Wheel it is straightforward to find out what terms Google relates to a targeted keyphrase and these related terms could possibly be utilised in website’s content.
At the moment the direct impact that Wonder Wheel is likely to have on search engine optimisation is negligible but, alongside the other features found in the new options bar, it provides another interesting advancement in the way searches may be conducted in the future.