Okay! It’s official- Ranking as we know it is “DEAD“.

The official release of Google’s all new Search Wiki marks the end of Page Ranking as we know it. Basically, Search wiki allows users personalize their search results, meaning- users now have a way to; “customize search by re-ranking, deleting, adding, and commenting on search results“.

The effect of this on SEO need not even be mentioned. Search Wiki has introduced a new dimension to Search Engine Marketing, which essentially downplays the importance of SEO’s- with regard to SERP, as Search Engine Marketing has more or less shifted from just getting good rankings with SE’s, to brand marketing as a whole.

As Google’s Matt Cutts puts it,

SEOs are starting to embrace the fact that they are marketers. It’s a broader spectrum. You have to think about how you build buzz, how do you get loyal customers, how do you optimize your ROI. All those different things and that can include how do I make good videos, do I have a book, things like that.

So is page ranking officially “Dead”? Maybe not quite …….  according to Cutts;

I’m not sure I would say ranking is dead but it’s not as important as it used to be. The fact is the smart SEOs are not just necessarily looking at the rankings. They are looking at conversion, they are looking at their server log. It’s great if you’re ranking for a phrase but unless that leads to sales that doesn’t help you very much.

According to the Google Blog, the changes you make only affect your own searches. But SearchWiki also is a great way to share your insights with other searchers. You can also see how the community has collectively edited the search result.

Quoting Cedric Dupont, Product Manager, and Corin Anderson, Software Engineer,

This new feature is an example of how search is becoming increasingly dynamic, giving people tools that make search even more useful to them in their daily lives. We have been testing bits and pieces of SearchWiki for some time through live experiments, and we incorporated much of our learnings into this release. We are constantly striving to improve our users’ search experience, and this is yet another step along the way.

Well folks, that’s just a brief picture of the new face of SEO in 2009. There are also other things worth mentioning though, such as googlebot’s new ability to index flash and video content.