Hoping to capitalize on the dominance and growth of social encyclopedias, Google has Wikipedia in its cross hairs with Knol (includes shades of Squidoo and Mahalo).

Users can create a page on any topic that includes text, images and links.

Moderated collaboration will allow page creators to accept or reject edits and changes to each Knol.

Now why would you want to create a page? Google is allowing page owners to makes some cash by earning revenue through AdSense clicks.

As someone who once wasted money on a Million Dollar Wiki page, the concept sounds familiar. In fact, you’re probably already targeting popular keywords, eh?

The visibility of content is controlled by the reviews and comments left by visitors (these dictate ranking). Good content will be rewarded. Multiple pages can be created for the same topic or item.

Even if Knol scrapes away a small percentage of Wikipedia’s audience, that will still be big traffic.

Originally posted on July 23, 2008 @ 4:21 pm