Search Mapping by Google’s Wonder Wheel

Google has just rolled out some new features recently and the standout, from a wow-factor POV, has to be Wonder Wheel which displays search results as a series of spoked hubs, with the search term in the hub and related terms at the tip of each spoke.

Just do a Google search on, say, Thomas Pynchon. You will see the results displayed. Click on the “show options” link just beneath the Google logo.

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You will be presented with the initial hub and spokes:

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Clicking on any of the other links spawns a new wheel of associated links:

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Notice in the right column a list of links relevant to whichever link you clicked on. Where Google detects a product search, it displays a list of e-commerce sites where the product is available. For the Thomas Pynchon search, however, it displays links related to the last link you clicked, Pynchon being an American novelist and not a product.

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The links displayed in the right column are ranked in the same order as a regular search on the phrase you clicked on would show up. What is interesting is: Where are the Adwords ads? A search on Hawaiian vacations, with Wonder Wheel activated, displays no ads, just the right column of sites as they would be ordered in a regular search. Interesting.

Also interesting is that sometimes when you click on a keyword, the new wheel is spawned but instead of spokes, you just see the perimeter of the circle, dashed outline, rotating. I’m not sure if this is an error, or what.

I wouldn’t think this would shake up SEOs much, as the same sites are displayed as would come up in a regular search; however, these results are pushed to the side to display the wheels.

It will be interesting to see how this feature evolves.


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