Using Google's Co-op to Rank #1

If you aren't familiar with Google's Co-op program, then you may want to start looking into it. Essentially Co-op is a relatively new program that is designed to incorporate human feedback into Google's results. The Co-op database is still in its infancy, and is not particularly useful for most searches. However it can be a very useful tool for putting your website high atop the rankings for your most important prospects – and you can implement it on your website in just a few minutes.

A Brief Overview of Co-op

Co-op is actually two completely different programs rolled into one project. The first part of co-op is URL association. This is where human editors review websites and associate them with various "labels" or keywords. When a user performs a search for a general term (e.g. "Diabetes"), Co-op will display a list of labels to help the user drill down to a more specific set of results.

The second part of Co-op is called "Subscribed Links". This is basically where users can subscribe to an individual publisher's information. This is useful for those who already know that they trust content from certain publishers. By subscribing to that website's content, Google knows to feature content from that website first for certain types of search queries.

My Google is Different From Your Google

When I search for certain terms on Google, I get a different search result than you do. That's because I have subscribed to certain people's Co-op accounts. I trust these individuals to recommend high quality content either on their own website, or on someone else's.

Whenever I perform a search, Google checks to see if my search term appears on any of the feeds to which I have subscribed. If so, then that person's suggested site appears at the top. But that's not all that I can do with Co-op!

Using my co-op account, I can make pages on my own website show up #1 on Google whenever YOU search for terms that I've targeted. To see what I'm talking about, just subscribe to my profile, and then search for the term "How To Build A Website" on Google.

If you do so, you will see that my website has taken the top spot for this term - just below the "paid" ads, it only took me a few minutes to accomplish, and it didn't cost me a dime! You can do this for your website as well, and you can target hundreds or even thousands of keywords.

Why is Google doing this?

In order to understand why Google created Co-op, it helps to take a look at the history of Google. In the beginning, Google's algorithm was dominated almost exclusively by inbound link tracking. Google was able to create a more accurate hierarchy of websites because each inbound link was considered a "vote" for that website. The more "votes" your website had, the higher it would rank for it's key terms.

Search engine "spammers" quickly figured out how to game that system, so Google started relying more on a new human-edited Internet Directory known as the Open Directory (www.dmoz.org). For several years getting a website into the Open Directory meant immediate entry into Google's good graces.

Unfortunately, over time, the accuracy of the Open Directory came into question. The backlog of reviews and accusations of corruption have eroded faith in the largest human edited directory in the world. In fact, today it can take over a year to get a site listed on the Open Directory – if at all.

Google will continue to revise its algorithm. But the fact remains that human beings are the best judges of what is (and is not) relevant to a given search query.

Therefore, Google is looking for a new way to let web surfers vote. When I subscribe to a Co-op account, I'm "voting" for the opinion of the person to whom I'm subscribing. If that person gets enough votes, Google can correctly assume that his opinion matters more than someone who has fewer subscribers. Get enough subscribers, and Google will actually "promote" your feed (and every website you have recommended – including your own!).

Co-op Is Still an Infant

Currently only a few topics are labeled in a useful way. In fact, it can be difficult to even find search terms that reveal Co-op content. You can subscribe to my feed and search on the terms I have given you above to see some of my placements, or you can also search on certain healthcare-related terms like "diabetes" to see some of the information that has been loaded by the Health On The Net Foundation (HON).

When you search for the term "diabetes", you will see that Google gives you the ability to refine your search. If you then click on the "Treatment" refinement option, you will notice that all the results on the first page have an extra line for each result called, "Labeled". This means that a trusted entity has verified that these websites are relevant for the search you performed, and you can clearly see who labeled the result and how it was labeled.

Over time, the depth of the database in Co-op will grow. I'm sure there will come a day when Co-op will have millions of members instead of the few thousand it has right now. It will become a more central part of Google's algorithm, and there will be certain Co-op editors whose positive reviews will become the prize sought by companies and webmasters all over the Internet.

The Co-op Opportunity Today

In the meantime, you have the opportunity to create Co-op Subscribed Links, and to invite your website subscribers to subscribe to the Internet content you recommend for certain key phrases. If you have some extra time, you might also get in the habit of reviewing websites and labeling URLs. Start off with your own, but make sure to mix it up a little and try to create a valuable resource for your subscribers.

About the Author

Matthew Coers is an Internet marketing consultant. His website, ProfitChoice.com contains everything an entreprenuer needs to build a website and make money online. Visit ProfitChoice.com to access his FREE online course, "7 Days to Website Success".