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.

You will be presented with the initial hub and spokes:

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

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.

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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