Ever hear of Naver.com?

Unless you speak Korean- probably not. But for those of you who think Google will never meet its match, pay attention. In Korea Naver has Google beat- and it’s winning by throwing a new variable into the search mix- user input.
The same way Wikipedia counts on it’s users to create content- Naver asks it’s users to answer questions- the reward – being ranked from ordinary to supernatural- and if you really know it all- you can be one of 22 “Gods.”
While Google uses some feedback from search selections to evaluate and provide page rank- it doesn’t go as far as to ask outright for the answers. Heuristic learning for search is probably the next big thing- if it isn’t already partially here now. For those of you who don’t know what heuristic is: an educational method in which learning takes place through discoveries that result from investigations made by the student.
In other words- you learn from trial and error until you get it right.
This probably isn’t applicable to how to get your site to the top of search just yet- but, the fact remains that if you provide the right answer- or the right links to the right answer- your site will be the last place the visitors stop- making you the expert for the minute- and maybe turn the visitor into a customer.

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