Google Sidewiki is touted as a new enhanced toolbar feature in which individuals are able to share their insights of particular web pages by posting comments directly to that page within a sidebar. Hence the name, Sidewiki.

Friend or Foe?

Gone are the days of monitoring disparaging comments on blogs, forums or web sites that post about your products or services. Now, with Sidewiki, they can go directly to the source. If you think that product or service page of your web site was immune to the affects of bad reviews, think again. Even though that product or service page is ranking well in Google and you have developed a comprehensive reputation management campaign that was able to “push down” bad reviews, look forward to the new era of web graffiti. Not to worry though, Google stipulates that only people with a Google account, a Google toolbar with Sidewiki installed and using either Firefox or Explorer are able to post Sidewiki comments. With those requirements, what is the possibility that Sidewiki will be used on a wide scale (sarcasm)? Don’t forget about this quote from Google:

“Under the hood, we have even more technology that will take your entry about the current page and show it next to webpages that contain the same snippet of text. For example, an entry on a speech by President Obama will appear on all webpages that include the same quote. We also bring in relevant posts from blogs and other sources that talk about the current page so that you can discover their insights more easily, right next to the page they refer to.”

Oh thank you Google…now all “insights” and “helpful information” from across the net that is “relevant” will be right there on my web site. In fact, because Sidewiki is new, Google may show related blog comments if there is a page on your site that does not currently have Sidewiki comments. There is also no way to manage the comments or block them from being displayed. Google Sidewiki does give you the ability to post the first comment if you can verify in Google Webmaster Central you are the web site owner and you can even get notices when Sidewiki comments are posted on one of your pages.