Creating a Google Knol Page

Knol is a new information service from Google. Designed to compete with online reference sources like Wikipedia, Knol allows experts to craft their own information pages on specific topics about which they have expertise. Google's aim is to for each Knol page to provide the first information a user would want to read when searching for a topic on the web. Several hundred Knol pages were created in advance of the launch on various topics. Many of the initial pages seem to be based on medical conditions and managed by doctors, but now that Knol is open to the public, anyone, even you can create one or more new Knol pages. Here is an example of one I created in less than 10 minutes.

First Step in Creating a Knol Page

In order to create your own knol page, you must have an account with Google. If you don't have one yet, just go to Google and sign up for a free gmail account. Once that's done, you can go to knol.google.com and begin creating your own knol page. The point of Knol is that people create original Knol pages for topics on which they have a particular expertise. Of course, everything on your Knol page should be your own creation, plagiarism or copyright violations will not be condoned.

Creating your Knol Page

Once you've decided on a topic for a new Knol page, you can dive right in and begin editing your page. A good title that lets people know exactly what to expect on your knol page is important since this will govern how your knol page is found in search engines. Here is an example of a very complete and specific knol: Chicago Hot Dogs. As you can see, this knol took considerably longer than 10 minutes to create and offers virtually all there is to know about Chicago Hot Dogs, including pictures, framed bullet point lists, and more.

Editing your Knol Page Over Time

A Knol page can be an ongoing project. The Knol page owner or other authors that have been approved by the owner, can edit the page at will. New material can be added as it becomes available. Old material can be deleted if it is found to be incorrect or no longer relevant. The more information valid information the knol page contains, the more likely it is achieve a higher rank in search engines. Of course, the same rules that apply to making a highly ranked web page apply to making a highly ranked knol page.

Will Google Search Give Preference to Knol Pages?

There are those who believe that Google has a strong conflict of interest with their search engine and Knol pages. In other words, by ranking Knol pages highly, Google stands to get more ad revenue. However, gaming the system and giving even poorly written Knol pages a high ranking would just damage the credibility of Knol in the long run. Knol pages, like any web page, will rise or fall in the search engine rankings, even Google's own search engine, based on the quality of the information on the page.