Google recently launched a new product called SideWiki. Google's Sidewiki is a browser sidebar that allows users to add comments and information about a particular site. There has been some controversy about this new service already.
Some of the issues brought up:
- The Sidewiki content is hosted on Google
- Taking comments /content from site owners and centralizing it
- Lack of comment filtering, open up for spam
- Some equate it to bathroom wall graffiti
With that we want to talk about getting a "Page Owner" citation listed in the Sidewiki for your company. A "Page Owner" citation marks the site owner's comment in green and places the comment as the first listing in the Sidewiki. What a site owner can then do is to create a very long post that would take up the initial page of the Sidewiki, thus pushing down any other comments to a secondary page. So how do you create a "Page Owner" citation in Google's Sidewiki?
- First you need to have created a Google Account and verified your web site through Google Webmaster Tools
- Second is to download the updated Google Toolbar with the SideWiki enhancement
- Once the updated Google Toolbar is installed visit your web site
- Go to the Google Toolbar and click on the SideWiki button and select "Write an entry"
- You should now see the Sidewiki. If you are not logged in to your Google Account, it will now ask you to log in to post an entry.
- Since you verified your web site in Google Webmaster Tools you should now see a green box at the top of the Sidewiki. Just check the box next to "write as the page owner".
- You can now make you comment (a title is not required)
- Once saved you will now see a green box at the top of the Sidewiki that has a new citation by the "page owner"
Here are some screen shots of what you should see during this process.