Help Edit Google's SERPs

Eurkster Rollyo? care to elaborate?

viagra and texas holdem experts, on your marks, get set, go....

groups of people creating vertical search engines.

Why help Google improve search results for free when I can take advantage of the currently bad SERPs and make bank?

This shows G has lost touch, both with their users and the webmaster and seo communities. It's a crazy concept, let's hope it gets abused and ruins the whole reason people actually used Google, decent natural results. Talk about forgetting how you got where you are.

If I am understanding this correctly, it seems to be a cross between a social bookmark system and an open directory chopped up into a bunch of verticals. It does seem ripe for abuse if anybody uses it. I think the worse thing that could happen is if G starts placing these in default search -- I really hope it stays some ignored corner of the G infrastructure.

Well some of them look like they are default subscribed Littleman...

for example, you can subscribe to these here
http://www.google.com/coop/directory
but these here
http://www.google.com/coop/directory?cx=health_devel
(as of right now) are already pre-subscribed

to me it seems like this was a half hearted launch...like they just wanted to have something to talk about.

Nice to see the disinterested nature of the chosen "experts":

http://www.google.com/coop/annotations?user=013667137967018710445

Haven't had time to check coop out but is it something like what someone else called lenses?

Lenses are currently individually crafted...these coop searches will have less background data or context around each link and many are group crafted

subject experts LOL

Like the majority of serious subject experts out there are going to come across this page and say "Awesome, I'll get right on it!"

Seriously, I think Google needs to take a step back sometimes and look at things from a "non-engineering" point-of-view. Look at the examples they use! Kites, stamps, mars rover...

http://www.threadwatch.org/node/6093

Asked about an Ask Jeeves feature which allows you to narrow a search by clustered topics, Marissa answers: “Do you want to know what I really think of this? It’s interesting, but not really useful.” She adds that the majority of users don’t really want to narrow their search, they want an instant answer, and that for those users Google gives the fastest results.

....and now

How will subscribing to someone affect my search results?

When you subscribe to someone in the Google Co-op directory, all of that provider's labels and subscribed links will be added to your Google search results for relevant searches. The labels and links provide new and useful ways to refine your searches.

http://www.google.com/coop/docs/faq_users.html

wheeeee, what a change of heart...