Google’s Fascination with Digg

Some of you may know, Google has been considering a purchase of Digg.com, the popular pligg site.

Google seems to be fascinated with a concept which Amazon learned long ago, end user ratings really do matter.  The Google algorithm currently provides search results based on the mysterious Google algorithm.  It is believed that Google may be looking at Digg in order to incorporate some of the rating system into its search results.  For instance, imagine being able to see Google search results based on how many “diggs” each search result has obtained.  Imagine also the social networking aspects of an integration of Digg into Google.  Not only will you be able to rate and comment on the search result, but you would be able to see other users ratings and comments of search results.  Instead of the “back-link” being the gold standard of “authority” on the web, the search results themselves could be graded. 

Personally, I think Google has a long way to go before it achieves its goal of serving up the best results within each vertical content area and keyword search terms.  Let’s face it, there’s a lot of junk returned on page one of Google.  Oftentimes, the best result has nothing to do with keyword density.  It may simply be the most authoritative commentary on the web about a particular issue.  Adding a social networking piece such as Digg to the search results seems to make good sense.