Google Knol, Google's latest offering, is designed to encourage volunteer content contributors to publish authoritative articles (called "knols") on any subject. Knol publishers have the option of inserting Google AdSense ads on their knols, thus earning a revenue share.
This is not a new idea. Squidoo, Associated Content, and Gather are all trying very similar things.
I can summarize the business model in three letters:
S E O - Volunteers creating long tail content, in the hopes that it ranks in Google, and can then be monetized via ads.
Don't believe me that this is an SEO play? Check out Google's promotional placard for Knol:
My favorite part about the placard is the "searchable through popular search engines" part. According to my site's logs, there is only one popular search engine.
I believe that Google Knol will thrive or die based on how well its Knols do in the organic search results. So my questions is, if you take a Google Knol about "Mesothelioma" and compare it to a Squidoo lens about "Mesothelioma" - and all other factors are equal - who will rank better on Google? The Google Knol page, or the Squidoo Lens?
